The partner of former EastEnders star Sian Blake has lost a challenge against his "whole-life" jail sentence for murdering her and their two young children.

Arthur Simpson-Kent, 50, failed to persuade Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas and two other leading judges at the Court of Appeal in London that the term should be reduced.

He killed Ms Blake, 43, and their sons, Zachary, eight, and four-year-old Amon, after the actress, who was terminally-ill with motor neurone disease, planned to leave him and take the boys with her.

The Walthamstow-born actress and her children were last seen on December 13, 2015, when they visited her family in Leyton.

However, Simpson-Kent is thought to have murdered his family at their bungalow in Erith later that month before their bodies were discovered by police on January 5 last year.

He had buried them in the back garden and told relatives and the police they had gone to see friends before fleeing to his native Ghana.

Simpson-Kent, who admitted three counts of murder, was sentenced at the Old Bailey in October by a judge who said he should receive the most severe punishment possible for the ''truly horrific'' crimes.

Lord Thomas, Mr Justice Sweeney and Mrs Justice May upheld his decision at a hearing today (Tuesday, June 27).

Lord Thomas, describing the murders as horrific and involving "extreme brutality", said the court was "entirely satisfied" that the sentencing judge was entitled to reach the conclusion.

The appeal judges rejected argument on the killer's behalf that a "very long finite" sentence in the region of 40 years with a possibility of release, would have been appropriate.

In throwing out Simpson-Kent's challenge, Lord Thomas said that for a whole-life sentence to be imposed the offending must be "exceptionally high".

He added: "We have to look at the whole of the circumstances and to consider whether this was a case where the seriousness of the offending was exceptionally high - we have no doubt that it was."