A convicted murderer today lost his High Court battle to overturn a ban which prevents him returning to many of his old haunts and watching his favourite football team play at home.

A judge said "a democratic society" had the legal right to impose such an exclusion zone as part of Stephen Craven's parole conditions to protect his victim's family from suffering emotional harm through a chance encounter with the killer.

Mr Justice Stanley Burnton, sitting in London, ruled: "A democratic society should be sensitive to the emotional harm caused to the victims of crime particularly the most serious of crimes".

Jobless glazier Craven, now 32, from Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, was found guilty in 1991 of murdering teenager Penny Laing in a city nightclub. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Miss Laing, 19, from Annitsford, near Cramlington, was killed in the early hours of Christmas Eve 1989 at the then Studio nightclub in New Bridge Street, Newcastle.

The case provoked revulsion and horror in the north east.

Craven was released on parole in October 2000 on condition that he did not contact the family of his victim and did not enter Newcastle or North Tyneside without prior approval from his probation officer.

The restrictions, imposed by the Parole Board with the support of the Home Secretary, were later varied to ban Craven from the area around Annitsford.

He also remained excluded from Newcastle, although allowed to visit his parents at Heaton and have access to a specific area for work purposes.

His lawyers argued that even the reduced "exclusion zone" constituted a disproportionate and unlawful interference with his right to respect for his private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Rejecting the application for judicial review, Mr Justice Stanley Burnton, sitting at the High Court in London, said: "I consider that the imposition of an exclusion zone on the movements of a convicted murderer, in order to minimise the risk of accidental contact between him and the family of his victim, should be considered as capable of being necessary in a democratic society."

It should be sensitive "to their anxieties and concerns and to the risks of emotional or psychological harm in the event of an encounter between convicted murderer and the family of his victim."

The judge said he would have held the imposition of the original, wider exclusion zone to have been unreasonable and disproportionate as it was made without giving sufficient consideration to the interests of Craven and his family.

In contrast, he revised ban was arrived at after detailed and careful consideration and permitted Craven to visit his family and go to work.

"His inability to watch Newcastle Football Club when they play at home, while regrettable, in the scheme of things is of insufficient weight to lead me to reject the revised exclusion zone."

The judge said the murder of Miss Laing occurred after it appeared Craven had said something insulting and his victim slapped his face.

He retaliated by pushing a pint glass with such force into her neck that it shattered and severed her jugular vein, causing her to bleed to death within minutes.

The judge said Miss Laing's family were devastated and still grieved for their loss. They had requested that Craven should not be allowed to return to live in the Newcastle or North Tyneside area.

Her father was in poor health and had to take early retirement and both parents were very anxious about the possibility of a chance encounter with Craven and the extreme distress it would cause.

Craven, who qualified as a plumber in prison, grew up in Newcastle but, as a result of the exclusion zone, had to go to live with his aunt and uncle in County Durham.

The Court of Appeal rejected his appeal, said there was overwhelming evidence linking him to the killing.

Craven's parents, George and Ann, of Charminster Gardens, Heaton, vowed to fight on to prove he was a victim of mistaken identity.