The former soldier who killed teenager Elaine Doyle in 1986 has had a date set for his appeal against his murder conviction.

John Docherty was found guilty in June 2014 of murdering the Greenock teenager and was jailed for 21 years.

Two days have been set aside at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh on April 19 and 20 for judges to hear arguments from his legal team in a bid to overturn the conviction.

Docherty, 50, from Dunoon in Argyll, was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 21 years in jail after he was found guilty. He murdered the former jeweller's assistant near her home in Ardgowan Street, Greenock.

The ex-soldier denied the murder charge but a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh found him guilty of strangling the teenager, who had earlier been at a disco.

Years after the death of the 16-year-old, DNA evidence, unknown in crime scene investigations at the time, was found on her naked body providing a link to Docherty, who later provided a sample.

Witness Martin Brown, 52, who lives in London, told the trial in 2014 that he saw a man with an "angry expression" who appeared to be following a girl near the victim's home on the night she died.

Mr Brown told police in a statement in 1996 that the girl was Elaine Doyle and in 2012 picked out a photograph of Docherty telling police the image resembled the man who was following the girl.

A statement from Ms Doyle's mother, Maureen Doyle, after Docherty was found guilty said: "The people of Inverclyde who have lived this nightmare with us for the last 28 years and have always supported our family.

"The result at court doesn't make our day to day living any easier, the pain doesn't go away, but my son John and I take comfort that we now have justice for Elaine, which is all we, especially her dad Jack, campaigned for."