Stanford Glenfield Archibald will remain by bars for life after losing his appeal yesterday against his conviction for the 1985 murder of Aaron Easton.

Archibald was jailed last July for murdering Easton with a concrete block at an apartment in Laffan Street, Hamilton.

His lawyers argued that DNA evidence used in 1986 to link his blood to the murder was sloppy and doctors could not be sure whether two or three vials of blood had been taken from him.

The conviction was thought to be the first secured in Bermuda using DNA evidence and Archibald's lawyer Mark Pettingill had argued it wasn't his client's blood on the block.

Archibald's lawyers argued on 16 separate points that the conviction was unsafe, but the Appeal Court judges, headed by Appeal Court President Edward Zacca, upheld the conviction.

They found that any questions about whether the blood samples had been mislabelled, contaminated or compromised had been extensively dealt with in cross-examinations of the doctor involved.

And they ruled trial judge Norma Wade-Miller did give proper directions on circumstantial evidence and on the veracity of evidence from informants.

"On reviewing the comprehensive directions and the totality of the evidence, we are satisfied that no substantial miscarriage of justice actually occurred," wrote the judges.