Benjamin Geen killed two patients by injecting them with drugs which caused them to stop breathing

A former hospital nurse serving life for the murder of two patients has lost a bid to challenge his convictions.

Smartly-dressed Benjamin Geen, now 29, was present in the dock of the Court of Appeal in London to hear three judges rule that his convictions were not "unsafe".

They dismissed an application by Geen, who has always protested his innocence, for permission to appeal against his convictions.

He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 30 years at Oxford Crown Court in May 2006.

Geen, who was accused of injecting patients with drugs which caused them to stop breathing, was jailed for two murders and causing grievous bodily harm to a further 15 patients at Horton General Hospital in Banbury in Oxfordshire.

Lady Justice Hallett, sitting with Mr Justice Holroyde and Mr Justice Kenneth Parker, rejected all of his five proposed grounds of appeal.

She said nothing had been put forward "to undermine the safety of these convictions".

During Geen's trial jurors were told he had enjoyed the thrill of trying to revive the patients.

Fifteen patients recovered shortly after developing breathing difficulties. But David Onley, 75, of Deddington, Oxfordshire, died on January 21, 2004, and Anthony Bateman, 65, of Banbury, Oxfordshire, died on January 6, 2004, shortly after they were admitted to the accident and emergency department of the hospital where Geen worked as a staff nurse.