A father and son who were jailed 15 years ago following an explosion at a fireworks factory have lost challenges against their manslaughter convictions at the Court of Appeal.

Martin Winter and his son Nathan were found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence in 2009 after two firemen died and 20 other people were injured in the blast at Marlie Farm in Shortgate, near Uckfield, on December 3, 2006.

Martin Winter, who ran a fireworks firm at the site, was handed a seven-year jail term while his son was sentenced to five years, later reduced to four, following a five-week trial.

The company was convicted of two health and safety breaches in connection with the blast and was fined £30,000.

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Firefighters Geoff Wicker, 49, and Brian Wembridge, 63, were killed by the blaze.

At a hearing in June, Martin and Nathan Winter challenged their convictions at the Court of Appeal in London following a referral by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which reviews suspected miscarriages of justice.

But in a ruling on Tuesday, three judges dismissed the appeals.

Lord Justice William Davis, sitting with Mrs Justice McGowan and Mrs Justice Cockerill, said: “We conclude that this appeal is misconceived and must be dismissed.

“That conclusion remains whether one looks at the matter as the prosecution urged, from a standpoint of standing back and taking all the evidence in the round, or whether one pursues the particular points of analysis on which focus was placed by the appellants.”