The Firkins were found guilty of battering the couple to death

Robert and Lee Firkins, from Weston-super-Mare, were jailed for life for murdering Graham Fisher, 60, and his wife Carol, 53, in 2003.

A central plank of the prosecution case was a former jail cellmate's testimony that Robert Firkins had confessed.

It is that evidence which will now be looked at by the CCRC.

Sensitive material

In January 2006 a jury at Exeter Crown Court found the brothers guilty of the murders at the Perch Garage in November 2003.

The husband and wife died after they were repeatedly blasted with a shotgun at point-blank range before being bludgeoned with a sledge-hammer.

Both brothers denied the murder charges, insisting that, at the time of the killings, they were seeing relatives and had visited a local pub.

In February this year they were granted an appeal against their conviction at the Court of Appeal in London.

After a two-hour hearing on Friday - with much of it behind closed doors due to the airing of sensitive prosecution material - Lord Justice Hughes directed the CCRC to look into the issue of the evidence given by Robert Firkins' cellmate at trial and his subsequent conduct.

Shared a cell

The inmate testified that Robert Firkins once bragged: "Watch Crimewatch and you will see my work."

The witness, who cannot be named by court order, had shared a cell with Robert Firkins.

At a previous Appeal Court hearing in March, Lord Justice Scott Baker directed Devon and Cornwall Police to interview Robert Firkins' cellmate in light of a letter he subsequently wrote which "raises issues as to the reliability of his evidence at trial".

The CCRC must submit its report to the Appeal Court by 7 March - with a possible hearing date set for the brothers' applications for permission to appeal conviction in May or June next year.