“HE has dragged us right back into the nightmare.”

Those are the words of an anguished mother about the man who murdered her daughter as he makes a bid to be released from jail.

Convicted killer Elliot Turner, 21, won the right to appeal his life sentence after he was found guilty of murdering his model girlfriend and New Forest student Emily Longley, in a jealous rage because he thought she was seeing someone else.

As reported by the Daily Echo, a full hearing will now take place before three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in London where Turner's legal team will try to get his murder conviction overturned.

But the news has devastated Emily's grieving parents who heard the news by telephone.

Emily's mother Caroline, 51, said: “When I got the phone call to say Turner was going to appeal it was gut-wrenching.

“We were just beginning to piece our lives back together but now we fell as if we are living through the heartache again.

“Turner has dragged us right back into the nightmare. It's as if he is trying to torment us.”

Self-professed playboy Turner was jailed for life in May after being convicted of killing 17-year-old Emily in his bed at the family home in Queens Park, Bournemouth, on May 7, 2011.

He was told he would have to serve a minimum of 16 years in prison before he would be considered for parole.

During a four-week trial at Winchester Crown Court jurors heard how he grabbed his aspiring model girlfriend around the throat during an argument but claimed it was self defence and she was alive afterwards.

The attack was the culmination of a month of anger and upset over suspicions that aspiring model girlfriend Emily was "twisting his heart" by seeing other men.

His parents, Leigh and Anita Turner, were also convicted during the same trial of perverting the course of justice by destroying a confession note and removing a jacket from the scene. They were each jailed for 27 months.

British-born Emily emigrated to New Zealand with her parents Mark and Caroline, and sister Hannah, when she was nine.

She returned to the UK to live with her grandparents in Southbourne and study a business diploma course at Brockenhurst College.

Speaking from her home in New Zealand, Mrs Longley added: “I will fly to England when he has his day in court because I want to be able to look him in the eye so he knows Emily had a loving family and he cannot tear us apart.”