THE man who murdered jeweller Marian Bates today had a libel claim thrown out of the High Court.

Peter Williams was jailed for life in March 2005 for killing the 64-year-old as she shielded her daughter during a botched armed raid on her shop in the Time Centre, Arnold, in September 2003.

He sued over an August 2007 article in the Daily Mirror about "crime boss" Colin Gunn, which included a photo of Williams under the caption "the henchman", and referred to him having confessed to police that Gunn set up the raid.

Williams, 24, who is serving a minimum of 22 years, claimed it led to him being identified as a "grass" or police informer by fellow prisoners, and also complained about the henchman allegation.

MGN Limited asked Mr Justice Eady to strike out the claim.

Its counsel, Victoria Jolliffe, said that if words only damaged someone's reputation in the eyes of the criminal fraternity, that was not enough to establish a claim - an allegation needed to lower a claimant in the eyes of right-thinking people generally.

She also argued that the claim was an abuse of the court's process as Williams had no reputation capable of being damaged.

If he were to achieve a modest award, it would be out of all proportion to the cost of the proceedings to the newspaper and the public purse, and any potential vindication would be minimal.

Giving his ruling, the judge said it was plain in the present context that the allegation of being a "grass" could not, as a matter of public policy, be defamatory.

He concluded that it was one of those cases where it was right to strike out the claim, having regard to Williams's background and serious criminal convictions.