A murderer who has served 40-years for killing three police officers, and was caught in Bolton after going on the run, has lost his plea for parole.

Harry Roberts was jailed in 1966 for murdering three plain-clothes and unarmed officers in London.

After the killings, Roberts was eventually tracked down to a flat in Bolton.

His three victims, PC Geoffrey Fox, aged 41, Sergeant Christopher Head, aged 30, and Detective Constable David Wombwell, aged 25, were gunned down in front of children in Shepherd's Bush, West London. They had stopped a van carrying Roberts and two accomplices after an armed robbery.

Roberts fled the capital and a major manhunt was launched. Police in Bolton were warned to be on the lookout after a tip-off from a motorist that Roberts had been seen in the area.

A man answering his description had been seen driving a car with London registration plates in Moses Gate.

Roberts was thought to be on his way to visit his wife, who lived in Manchester. He was eventually arrested at a flat in Chorley Old Road, Bolton.

The murders, described by the judge at the trial as "the most heinous crime for a generation or more", shocked the nation and led to calls for hanging to be brought back.

Roberts, now aged 70, is one of Britain's longest-serving prisoners. His 30-year tariff expired nine years ago, but recommendations that he be released have been rejected.

He is an inmate at a low-security prison near Newton Abbot, Devon, and could now take his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

One of Sgt Head's surviving sisters, Edna Palmer, 83, from Gillingham, Kent, is reported as saying she "felt better" knowing he is being kept behind bars.

She said: "Like I have said before, life should mean life."