Former bouncer Levi Bellfield is to seek permission to appeal against his conviction for the kidnap and murder of teenager Milly Dowler.

His lawyers are scheduled to make an application in the Court of Appeal in London on February 8.

Bellfield was given a whole life term in June 2011 after being found guilty of abducting and killing 13-year-old Milly following his trial at the Old Bailey.

His application for leave to appeal is due to be heard by a panel of three judges - the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, Mr Justice Wyn Williams and Mr Justice Maddison.

Milly was snatched from the street while on her way home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, in March 2002.

Bellfield was already serving a whole-life term for the murders of Amelie Delagrange and Marsha McDonnell and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy when he went on trial last year.

He yawned when found guilty of killing Milly and refused to return to the Old Bailey for sentencing the next day.

The trial judge Mr Justice Wilkie described him as a "cruel and pitiless killer".

Milly's decomposed body was found six months after she disappeared in a wood in Yateley Heath, Hampshire - 25 miles from Walton-on-Thames.

Experts were unable to say how she died.

Bellfield, who had also worked as a wheelclamper, lived 50 yards from where the schoolgirl vanished but did not become a suspect until he was arrested for the other crimes in 2004.

Surrey Police apologised for errors which allowed Bellfield to go undetected for more than two years - during which time he murdered two other women and tried to kill a third.

In 2008, he was given a whole life term for the murder of Marsha McDonnell (19) in 2003, the murder of Amelie Delagrange (22) and attempted murder of 18-year-old Kate Sheedy in 2004.