THE MAN jailed for life for the brutal murder of Hampshire pensioner Georgina Edmonds has launched a bid to overturn his conviction.

Matthew Hamlen has applied for leave to appeal against the verdict - two months after he was found guilty and told he would spend the next 30 years of his life behind bars.

He was convicted following a relaxation of the "double jeopardy" rule that prevented someone being tried for the same crime twice.

Fours years ago Hamlen was cleared of killing 77-year-old Mrs Edmonds at her riverside cottage at Brambridge, near Eastleigh, in 2008.

But the Hampshire electrician was dramatically re-arrested in 2014 and charged with her murder for the second time.

Jurors at the new trial were told that following his acquittal police found new DNA evidence linking him to the "sadistic" crime, in which the victim was tortured for her PIN number.

A sample obtained from the victim's blouse was 26 million times more likely to have come from Hamlen than someone else, the court heard.

The married father of one was found guilty of murdering Mrs Edmonds, who was stabbed 37 times before being bludgeoned to death with a rolling pin.

Last night a Courts and Tribunals Judiciary spokesman said: "Matthew Hamlen has lodged an application for permission to appeal against his conviction.

"The next step will be for a judge to decide whether to grant permission. If they do it will go to a hearing at the Court of Appeal."

Meanwhile, Hamlen's family have launched a campaign to clear his name.

They have created a website, Matthew Hamlen is Innocent, which questions some of the evidence presented to the jury during the six-week trial.

Citing the ease with which the murderer gained entry to the victim's home, and the fact that she apparently made no attempt to activate her alarm bracelet, they claim she was killed by someone she knew.

Hamlen, 37, of Bishopstoke, was unanimously cleared by the original jury in 2012 and again denied murder when he stood trial for the second time.

Jurors at Winchester Crown Court were shown CCTV footage of an unidentifiable man, said by the prosecution to be Hamlen, trying to obtain £200 from a cash machine using the victim's debit card.

But William Mousley QC, defending, said the evidence that his client was "ATM man" was "pretty shaky".

One of Hamlen's former colleagues, David Moore, of Carlton Electrical Services, was shown the footage and told the court: "It wasn't Matthew."

Hamlen's family have also studied the images, which show someone wearing trainers and a hi-vis jacket.

They say his shoes are several sizes bigger than those worn by the man who was subsequently convicted of Mrs Edmonds's murder.

But the pensioner's family say they have never doubted Hamlen's guilt.

Following his conviction Mrs Edmonds's son Harry praised Hampshire Constabulary's major investigation team, describing it as "world class" in its "dogged pursuit of justice".