Colin Thatcher has won a small if moot victory in the Supreme Court of Canada.

The country's highest court dismissed an appeal Thursday by the Saskatchewan government of a jury's decision to give the 65-year-old convicted murderer a chance to apply for early parole.

However, a National Parole Board hearing in Mission, B.C. ruled Wednesday that Thatcher was to remain behind bars.

Thatcher, son of a former Saskatchewan premier, was convicted of first-degree murder in 1984 for the murder of his ex-wife, JoAnn Wilson.

A first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic sentence of life in prison with no eligibility for parole until one has served 25 years.

The only exception is the so-called "faint hope" clause. That allows an inmate to attempt to convince a jury he or she has become sufficiently rehabilitated to warrant a parole hearing.

If granted, they must then convince the parole board they are worthy of release.

In Thatcher's case, he convinced the jury but not the parole board.

While it found the one-time politician and rancher had made steps towards reform and was a model inmate in many ways, his refusal to own up to the crime sunk Thatcher's application.

He can re-apply in two years. His 25th anniversary is May 7, 2009.

Wilson was found dead in her garage in 1983, brutally beaten and shot in the head. Before that, someone had shot and wounded her while she stood in her kitchen.

Her divorce with Thatcher had been a bitter one, and Wilson had won one of the largest property settlements in Canadian history.