The sister of murdered Bradford newspaper seller Nobby Clark today said her nightmare will go on forever despite his killer's failure to quash his conviction.

Connie Corpes, speaking publicly for the first time since his death 30 years ago, told of her relief at a Court of Appeal decision dismissing Donald Pendleton's claim that he had nothing to do with the death of Telegraph & Argus seller Nobby.

Pendleton was jailed for life at Leeds Crown Court in 1986 for the murder of Nobby 15 years earlier.

The 54-year-old has always pleaded his innocence and, earlier this year, his case was referred back to the Court of Appeal. But that appeal was dismissed at a hearing in London yesterday. Now the case could go to the House of Lords.

Speaking from her home in Summerton Drive, Holme Wood, Bradford, 75-year-old Connie said: "This will never leave me.

"It kept me awake at night for months and months thinking about what happened to him. I still wake up even now. Every day he is always there.

"What's Pendleton's sentence? It won't bring him back to me will it? At his funeral I put my hand on the coffin and told him 'I will fight for you if takes me the rest of my life'. And I have done. I can't do anymore can I?"

But she said she was relieved at the decision of the Court of Appeal.

"The appeal has brought back so many painful memories and I haven't been able to think of anything else for weeks.

"I can't believe Pendleton would leave it this long to appeal if he was innocent. He has never admitted anything, but I know in my heart he is guilty.

"I haven't been to my brother's grave for years because it is too upsetting. The appeal hasn't helped."

The battered body of Mr Clark, 39, was found by a schoolboy in Bradford Beck, Ingleby Road, Girlington on June 3, 1971. The grim discovery sparked a massive police hunt.

Pendleton was convicted 15 years later after co-defendant John Thorpe - who was also sentenced to life - allegedly boasted about the murder to a prison inmate.

Pendleton did not give evidence at his trial on the advice of his lawyers and the Court of Appeal heard much of the evidence was in the form of admissions he had made to police.

His barrister Michael Mansfield QC told yesterday's hearing transcripts of police interviews indicated he had been "subjected to considerable pressure to confess."

He submitted records of a 1971 police interview - which had only recently come to light.

Mr Mansfield claimed Pendleton was psychologically vulnerable. He said his client was unable to remember an alibi given in 1971 when he was questioned again in 1985.

Dismissing the appeal, Lord Justice Pill told the court there was no evidence police had put Pendleton under unfair pressure.

He said: "Not only does the material canvassed at the trial and the additional material canvassed upon the hearing of this appeal fail to cast any doubt upon the reliability of the admissions, it provides other substantial evidence on the guilt of Pendleton."

After the hearing Pendleton's solicitor Jim Nichol said he was 'absolutely gutted' by the decision.

"It's outrageous, absolutely outrageous. It seems to me that Donald Pendleton has not had a fair trial.

"I am more than satisfied that this man is innocent - it breaks my heart, this man is innocent."

Pendleton, of Bransdale Clough, Buttershaw, was nicknamed Mad Don in Bradford for his bizarre behaviour.

He apparently once streaked through a bus station and rode a motorcycle backwards through the city centre.

Pendleton's legal team will attend another hearing at the Appeal Court on July 6, where they will argue the case raises 'issues of general public importance' fit for a fresh appeal at the House of Lords.