JAILED teenage murderer Lee Ford will have his appeal against his conviction for killing a former Ipswich public schoolboy heard in September.Today the High Court in London confirmed Ford's appeal bid will go ahead on September 23, at 10.

JAILED teenage murderer Lee Ford will have his appeal against his conviction for killing a former Ipswich public schoolboy heard in September.

Today the High Court in London confirmed Ford's appeal bid will go ahead on September 23, at 10.30am.

It has allotted one hour and 45 minutes for evidence to be heard.

One of the grounds for Ford's appeal will be a claim that Judge David Mellor's summing up in the three-week trial at Norwich Crown Court last May was unfair.

Pat Williams, mother of Simon, her only child, said "This has been my worst nightmare.

"To outlive your children is terrible I hope Ford doesn't walk free.

"In his summing up the judge was careful to make all the alternative verdicts known to the jury."

Ford, 17, along with Jamie Briggs, 16, was found guilty of the murder of Simon Williams, aged 30 of Croft Street Ipswich.

The duo became the youngest ever people from Suffolk to be convicted of murder after the court was told how Mr Williams an ex-St Joseph's College pupil had been clubbed to death with a table leg and a tennis racket.

Ford, a former Holywells High School pupil from Bantoft Terrace, Ipswich, began his life sentence at Hollesley Bay.

Both he and Briggs had denied murdering Mr Williams while he was walking home.

Mr Williams, whose family lives in Brantham, was found by a passing motorist slumped beside an electricity sub station in Landseer Road Ipswich.

He had suffered more than 20 injuries and died in Ipswich Hospital on May 10, 2000.

Mrs Williams praised the support she had received from the police She said: "Our liaison officer has been an absolute wonder throughout. I cannot speak of her, the police, and courts, highly enough."