A Chelmsford man serving life for a doorstep shooting has failed to convince senior judges he was elsewhere at the time.

Peter Jones, 50, argued he was having dinner in a Southend restaurant when John Ward was gunned down in March 2006.

He said he had confessed to accidentally firing the fatal shot only because he and his family had been "threatened and subjected to violence".

But three Appeal Court judges today described Jones's alibi as "completely devoid of credibility" and kicked out his bid to clear his name.

Mr Ward bled to death after a shotgun was fired through a glass panel in the door of his home in St Osyth, Essex.

The intended target of the shooting was not Mr Ward, but somebody else who was staying with him.

Jones, of Danbury Road, and another man found guilty of the murder, David Taylor, of Colchester, fled to Spain but were returned to the UK in May 2007.

The pair and Martin Valentine were found guilty of the 22-year-old's murder at the Old Bailey in January 2008.

Jones was ordered to serve at least 25 years behind bars before he could even apply for parole.

At the Appeal Court, Jones insisted that "when Mr Ward was shot he was at a restaurant in Southend on Sea some 50 miles from the Ward home."

Jones accepted that his alibi ran "directly contrary" to what he told the jury during his trial - that he "fired the fatal shot, albeit by accident."

But he explained that by claiming that "he and his family had been threatened and subjected to violence by Valentine".

Throwing out his appeal, however, Mr Justice William Davies said fresh alibi evidence put forward by Jones was simply "not capable of belief."

He added: "Since we have concluded that evidence of alibi is false, his admission that he was at the scene of the shooting can hardly have been due to the use or threats of use of violence."

"Jones's argument is that the false account he gave can only have been because he was intimidated. We are satisfied that this argument is false," the judge ruled.

Sitting with two other senior judges, he concluded: "The fresh evidence of alibi is completely devoid of credibility.

"With that conclusion, the entire edifice of Jones's case collapses. His grounds of appeal are unarguable.

"We refuse his application for leave to appeal against conviction."