CONVICTED killer Jeremy Bamber is set to appeal against a decision that he should spend the rest of his life in jail.

Bamber was sentenced to life in 1986 for the murders of five members of his family, with the recommendation from trial judge Mr Justice Drake that he should serve a minimum of 25 years.

However, he was given a life tariff by former Home Secretary Michael Howard, who said he should never be released.

Bamber had asked for a specific minimum term to be set but Mr Justice Tugendhat has now ruled at the High Court that Bamber should spend the rest of his life in jail.

In a written decision to be communicated to Bamber he said: "In my judgment, you ought to spend the whole of the rest of your life in prison and I so order."

He added: "These murders were exceptionally serious."

A friend of Bamber's said he was "outraged and devastated" by the decision adding: "He is amazed at how they can impose this, as he was given a fixed sentence. He will appeal."

Bamber, who is now 47 and is currently in Full Sutton prison, York, was found guilty of shooting his wealthy adoptive parents June and Nevill, his sister Sheila Caffell and her six-year-old twin sons Daniel and Nicholas at White House Farm in Tolleshunt D'Arcy in August 1985.