A serial adulterer who murdered his wife after she found out about an affair has been told he will have to stay in jail. Spiritualist minister David Chenery-Wickens was convicted of murdering his wife Diane last March but has never revealed what happened to her.

Chenery-Wickens, 53, who calls himself The Reverend, has always denied killing make-up artist Diane and yesterday tried to have his conviction quashed.

However three top judges at the Court of Appeal found that the original verdict had been “fair and proper” and rejected his “unarguable” appeal.

Chenery-Wickens, dubbed The Vicar of Fibley, killed his wife of 11 years after she discovered he was leading a double life involving affairs with several other women. On May 15 last year, Diane’s remains were found by a dog walker in Worth Lane, Little Horsted, one mile from the Lavender Line railway where Chenery-Wickens worked.

The minister of Duddleswell, near Uckfield, who claimed he could talk to the dead, was arrested immediately.