AN EVIL killer who was hired by his drug dealing friend to execute mum-of-five Pennie Davis is trying to appeal his conviction.

Justin Robertson was handed a life sentence along with co-conspirator Ben Carr for their part in the contract killing of the helpless 47-year-old as she tended to her horses in a field near Beaulieu.

But now Robertson, 36, has made an application to the Court of Appeal seeking leave to appeal his conviction.

Bungling Robertson, 36, was jailed for a minimum of 32 years last month, having been convicted of stabbing the supermarket worker at least ten times before dropping car keys beside her body – a grave error which led police straight to him.

He had been recruited by 22-year-old Carr, whose deep-rooted hatred of Pennie, his dad’s former partner, turned to a desire to have her killed when she threatened to resurrect historic claims that he had indecently assaulted girls when he was a teenager.

Carr offered to pay Robertson £1,500 and convinced him that Pennie was a paedophile which, in their “twisted minds”, was justification for killing her, the court heard.

Judge Mr Justice Popplewell said that Carr’s share of the blame was no less than the killer’s and sentenced Carr, of Edward Road, Shirley, to a minimum of 30 years.

The sentences came after jurors unanimously convicted Robertson of murder and Carr of conspiracy to murder after 13 hours of deliberations, following the trial which spanned seven weeks.

Daily Echo: Pennie Davis was stabbed to death as she tended her horses in the New Forest (Hampshire Police/PA)

Pennie Davis

Samantha Maclean, 28, of Beech Crescent, Hythe, was cleared of conspiracy to murder and was released from custody.

Lian Doyle, 24, of Beech Crescent, Hythe, was also sentenced to ten-months in prison after admitting to perverting the course of justice, by disposing of the trainers Robertson was wearing when he murdered Pennie.

When sentencing Robertson at Winchester Crown Court, Judge Popplewell told him that he was a “career criminal” who carried out the “brutal and ferocious” stabbing.

He added that Robertson was “arrogant and offensive” when giving evidence during the trial and that his “deplorable” behaviour in the witness box was “a disgusting and misguided attempt at bravado”.

In mitigation, Rupert Pardoe, on behalf of Robertson, said that his client was not a “natural contract killer” and that he acted in the way he did only because Carr pressed a “vulnerable button”, which was his hatred for paedophiles.

A spokesperson from the Royal Courts of Justice and from the Crown Prosecution Service both confirmed that Robertson has made an application for permission to appeal his conviction but he does not have an automatic right to appeal.

Once the papers are received from his defence team, the application will be considered by a single judge and it will be up to that judge to grant permission for the appeal.

If that is successful, the appeal will go before a full court of three judges for a hearing.