CHILD killer Colin Bainbridge hopes to mount an appeal against his conviction for raping and murdering schoolgirl Laura Kane.

The revelation comes a year to the day that nine-year-old Laura went missing from her home in Penshaw, near Sunderland, when she was lured away by Bainbridge.

The 35-year-old former electrician took her to his home in Murton, County Durham, where he raped and suffocated her before hiding her body under the floorboards of his sitting room.

Bainbridge, 35, who had denied the charges and claimed Laura had died accidentally when a tie-up game went wrong, was sentenced to life at Newcastle Crown Court in June. The judge recommended that Bainbridge, who is serving his sentence in Durham jail, serve 22 years before being considered for parole.

Yesterday, his solicitor, Adrian Donkin, said Bainbridge had exercised his right to see if there were grounds for an appeal and was awaiting a barrister's decision.

The appeal could hinge on scientific tests, only available in the US, on diluted blood samples found on the carpet in Bainbridge's bathroom