A rapist who preyed on elderly women has lost an appeal to have his life sentence overturned.

Anthony Joyce from Salisbury posed as a telephone engineer to get into the home of a 74-year-old woman from Westbury in 1999. Once in the house he then tied her to a chair and repeatedly raped her after her mother, 93, had been tied up in another room.

DS Dave Martin was part of the original investigation. He welcomed the news that Joyce had lost his appeal. He said: "The news this man is staying behind bars is excellent, not only as a victory for his elderly victims who will now have peace of mind, but also for women in general around Westbury."

Last year, a jury at Bristol Crown Court took less than an hour to convict Joyce of the offences in Westbury.

Sentencing Joyce to life imprisonment, Judge Carol Hagen called the incident "the most harrowing of crimes" and praised the bravery of the two elderly victims.

As soon as the verdict was announced the jury heard Joyce had struck three times before and had been sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment in 1984 for the rape of three elderly women, one in her 90s, in Bournemouth.

His lawyers said the trial should not have gone ahead after an exchange between Joyce and prosecution lawyers was alleged to have influenced the jury but the Court of Appeal ruled his conviction and the life sentence still stands.