A man who claimed he was wrongly jailed for the nightclub murder of a teenage girl 11 years ago, has failed in a last-ditch Appeal Court bid to clear his name.

Stephen Craven, 31, was jailed for life in 1990 after a jury convicted him of murdering 19-year-old Penny Laing at Newcastle's Studio nightclub on Christmas Eve in 1989.

Craven, then a 21-year-old unemployed glazier, was one of 1,500 revellers in the packed nightclub when a scuffle broke out near Miss Laing, described as a "happy, friendly, effervescent girl".

The prosecution at Craven's trial at Newcastle Crown Court claimed Miss Laing was fatally glassed by Craven after she slapped his face following an altercation on the dance floor.

The glass shattered on impact with her neck, severing her jugular artery and leaving Miss Laing "grievously wounded", before her attacker slipped away.

Craven's first appeal against conviction was dismissed in 1995, but his case was referred back to the Appeal Court by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, a body set up to investigate potential miscarriages of justice.

His counsel, Mr Patrick O'Connor QC, argued Craven's defence had been undermined by a failure to hold a proper identity parade and to disclose potentially vital fingerprint evidence.

In particular, he pointed to the Crown's failure to disclose to the defence team before trial forensic evidence that the sole fingerprint found on what was probable the lethal glass did not belong to Craven.

He told the Appeal Court there was a real possibility that the mystery print was that of Miss Laing's true killer and, had defence lawyers known of it, they would have "exploited it for all it was worth" during Craven's trial. He argued Craven's conviction was "unsafe and unsatisfactory".

But Crown counsel, Mr John Milford, QC, told judges there was also new forensic evidence linking Craven to a shirt worn by Miss Laing's boyfriend, David Storey, on the night of the killing.

Mr Storey had tackled his girlfriend's attacker, and sweat and blood stains found on his shirt, when compared with DNA samples from Craven, meant there was only a one in a billion chance he was not the man concerned, he said.

After a two-day hearing, Lord Justice Latham, Mrs Justice Ebsworth and Mr Justice Sullivan dismissed Craven's appeal and upheld his conviction.

Craven, who has always protested his innocence has now been released on life licence. He was not in court to hear the judges' ruling.

A man's conviction for murdering a teenage girl in a nightclub on Christmas Eve 1989 is to be referred back to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Stephen Craven was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of killing shop assistant Penny Laing, 19, at the Studio nightclub in Newcastle. Miss Laing was stabbed in the neck with a broken beer glass.

She was walking across the dance floor when a man made an offensive remark. She slapped his face and he responded by striking her with a glass which shattered on impact.

The man was attacked by Miss Laing's boyfriend but in the confusion her assailant slipped out of the club.

Craven, an unemployed glazier who was among the 1,500 people in the club, later went to casualty to have a finger wound stitched. Next morning he flew to New York, attracting suspicion.

When he returned three days later he was arrested.

During the initial murder inquiry the glass that killed Miss Laing was fingerprinted and found to carry one not belonging to Craven.

This evidence was not disclosed to Craven's lawyers.

After his conviction Craven's solicitor Nigel Barnes said other evidence, some of which has since been destroyed, including blood-stained clothes found in the club, were not available to the defence.

Now the Review Commission, an independent body investigating miscarriages of justice, has concluded his case should be referred to the Court of Appeal.

When Craven was arrested, Newcastle magistrates ruled that there was insufficient evidence for a trial.

However, the Crown Prosecution Service took the unusual step of reactivating the charge by issuing a Voluntary Bill of Indictment which bypasses the magisterial system. An appeal in 1993 was rejected.

A man convicted of murdering a teenage girl in a nightclub will apply for his case to be reopened after the revelation that police failed to disclose important evidence to his defence team.

Stephen Craven, 28, has served seven years of a life sentence for killing Penny Laing, 19, on Christmas Eve, 1989. Miss Laing, a shop assistant, was stabbed in the neck with a broken beer glass in the Studio, a nightclub in Newcastle. Miss Laing, described as "a happy, friendly, effervescent girl", was walking across the dance floor when a man made an offensive remark. She slapped his face. He responded by striking her with a glass which shattered on impact with her neck. The man was attacked by Miss Laing's boyfriend, but in the confusion her assailant slipped out of the club.

Craven, an unemployed glazier, who was among the 1,500 people in the club, later went to casualty to have a finger wound stitched. The next morning he flew to New York, attracting suspicion. When he returned three days later, he was arrested. On Tuesday, the BBC programme Rough Justice will say that Northumbria police failed to disclose evidence that could have prevented his conviction.

During the initial murder inquiry the glass that killed Miss Laing was fingerprinted and found to carry one not belonging to Craven. By this time, however, Craven had already been arrested and the police did not request that the print be investigated further. This evidence was not disclosed to Craven's lawyers. Last week Craven's solicitor, Nigel Barnes, who discovered the fingerprint in the course of investigations, said: "The fingerprint on the glass and the extent of the fingerprint inquiry should have been disclosed at the time of Stephen's trial. If it had been, there's a real possibility that the jury might have taken a different view of the evidence."

He said other evidence, some of which has since been destroyed, including blood-stained clothes found in the club, were not made available to the defence. The revelation comes the week before the introduction of the new Criminal Procedure and Investigation Act, which gives police and prosecution lawyers considerable discretion over what is disclosed to the defence.

Failure to disclose evidence that could benefit the defence was the main factor behind many miscarriages of justices, including the Birmingham Six, Guildford Four and Bridgewater Three cases.

"When the police discovered Craven had gone to America they focused their investigations on him and it appears that other lines of inquiry were not pursued," said Mr Barnes. At Craven's trial, the defence focused on eye-witness reports of the murder describing Miss Laing's killer as being 5ft 3in to 5ft 9in, of medium build with a full head of short, dark, hair shaven at the sides. He left the club with two blonde women.

Craven is 5ft 1in, with balding curly ginger hair and left the club with one dark woman. No identity parade of suspects was held. On Tuesday Mr Craven's case will go before the new Criminal Cases Review Commission which will decide whether to refer it back to the Court of Appeal.

Rough Justice has interviewed witnesses who recall his behaviour in the nightclub as relaxed and sober. It also talks to Craven's father, George, an international printing consultant who has campaigned vociferously for his son's release. He said that he had urged his son to flee to America, because his son's girlfriend was accusing him of the murder. "He wouldn't have gone if I hadn't told him."

When Craven was arrested, Newcastle magistrates ruled that there was insufficient evidence for a trial. However, the Crown Prosecution Service took the unusual step of reactivating the charge by issuing a Voluntary Bill of Indictment which bypasses the magisterial system. An appeal in 1993 was rejected.

In Tyneside, the case is a cause célèbre. Many suspect a local drug dealer. The MP for Newcastle East, Nick Brown, said: "The fact that the original witness descriptions do not match the description of Craven and the failure to hold an identity parade has convinced me that there is more than enough reasonable doubt about Stephen to make his conviction unsafe. This new piece of evidence makes me even more worried."