A MURDERER who killed a Keighley child has had an appeal against his whole-life sentence heard by top judges.

But he, and the family of his victim, will have to wait for the outcome.

Anwar Rosser's appeal was heard alongside that of another killer involved in a seperate case at the Court of Appeal in London this morning.

He  watched the proceedings via video link from prison.

After hearing arguments on the killer's behalf, Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas, sitting with Mr Justice Wyn Williams and Mr Justice Sweeney, announced that the decision would be given "as soon as possible".

He said: "We completely understand the trauma this must have caused the families of both children, but I am afraid it is an inevitable part of the way justice is done."

The court realised "how difficult this must be for them".

The judges had read their personal statements and said they would be taken into account.

Appeal judges were urged to find that a whole-life term was "manifestly excessive", and that instead a "very long" finite minimum term should have been imposed.

Both appeals were contested by the prosecution.

Former soldier Rosser, 33, who admitted murdering four-year-old Riley Turner in a "savage and gratuitous" attack, was handed a whole-life tariff by a judge at Bradford Crown Court in February.

Rosser, of Harewood Road, Bracken Bank, was staying at the boy's home in Keighley, in January last year, when he stabbed and strangled the "happy and bubbly" child as he lay in his bed.