A Polish decorator serving an indefinite sentence for killing a Stamford Hill Jewish pensioner in a robbery at her home has lost a test case appeal against his conviction.

Kuba Dlugosz, 35, left 83-year-old Eveline Kelmenson with her ankles and wrists taped up after he and another man forced their way into her home in a desperate hunt for valuables to steal.

He denied any wrongdoing, but was convicted at the Old Bailey in June 2011 of manslaughter, burglary and robbery and jailed indefinitely.

His lawyers challenged the admissibility of controversial DNA evidence gathered from the scene.

But on Wednesday three senior judges rejected his appeal.

Miss Kelmenson died from hypothermia following the raid in November 2008. Her body was found on New Year’s Day 2009.

The burglars had used tools to break into and then ransack her home, in Leweston Place, Stamford Hill, before taking precious valuables.

Dlugosz will serve a minimum of seven years and only then be freed if the Parole Board considers he is no longer a public danger.