Judgment was today reserved on the appeal by a drug addict jailed for life for murdering British backpacker Caroline Stuttle in Australia.

Ian Previte, 32, was found guilty of robbing the 19-year-old and pushing her from a 30ft bridge in Bundaberg, Queensland, in April 2002. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and 10 years, to run concurrently, for the robbery, in October last year.

Three judges at the Queensland Court of Appeal in Brisbane heard Previte's appeal to overturn the conviction and reserved their judgment, said a court spokeswoman.

She added the judgment could take several weeks.

Prosecutors said Previte had boasted of killing the York teenager during conversations with cellmates which were secretly recorded.

The appeal, citing five different points, was lodged on Previte's behalf in November.

It challenged key evidence in the trial, including a taped police in an interview with Previte and the testimony of a handwriting expert who said it was likely he wrote a confession on a picnic table in Bundaberg.

Earlier, Miss Stuttle's father, Alan, said he was confident that his murder conviction would not be overturned.

He said: ''The family haven't talked about the appeal a great deal. No-one will be going to the hearing. We were there for the trial and don't want to got through it all again. I think it's just a case of him (Previte) going through the motions.

''How the guy has got the gall to appeal, I don't know. If I had killed a kid, I don't think I could live with myself. If he was any kind of gentleman he wouldn't be appealing.

''Caroline doesn't have any appeal against her death sentence.''

Mr Stuttle, 66, a renowned artist, said that police liaison officers would be keeping the family informed during the appeal.

He disclosed that he had written a book on his daughter's death, which had helped him come to terms with his loss.

His ex-wife Marjorie Marks-Stuttle and son Richard have meanwhile established Caroline's Rainbow Foundation, a charity which provides practical help for backpackers abroad.

Miss Stuttle had been travelling in Australia during a gap year with a friend before starting a psychology course at Manchester University.

She had been working as a tomato picker in Bundaberg for only a few days when she was killed as she returned to a caravan park after making a phone call to her boyfriend, Ian Nelson, in England.