SOHAM murderer Sean Hilton was sentenced to life in prison after killing his girlfriend and dumping her body near a disused airfield. The judge in the three-week trial told Hilton, 39, of Brook Street, that he would serve at least 15 years for the murder

SOHAM murderer Sean Hilton was sentenced to life in prison after killing his girlfriend and dumping her body near a disused airfield.

The judge in the three-week trial told Hilton, 39, of Brook Street, that he would serve at least 15 years for the murder of Kim Fuller.

He said that Hilton would pose a risk to others for a significant period of time.

After hearing the sentence, Ms Fuller's parents Pete and Connie Goddard, said justice had finally been done for their daughter.

The couple from Exning said they had been "to hell and back" since her death but the guilty verdict had finally given them "closure".

"It has not been easy to sit and listen to personal things about your daughter. The last year has been hell. We were just getting round to realising Kim was not here anymore and then we had the trial. But we have got the result we wanted and we are pleased with the sentence. It is a huge relief."

Cambridge Crown Court judge, Lord Justice Gross, said Hilton killed the 34-year-old mother-of-two out of jealousy, most probably triggered by her receiving two innocent text messages from a male friend.

"You were, and are, a violent and self-pitying bully who is extremely dangerous to any woman who might have the misfortune to enter into a relationship with you," he told Hilton.

Detectives from four police forces were involved in hunting for Ms Fuller, after she went missing on March 3, following a visit to the house in Soham she shared with Hilton.

A massive police search was launched the next day when she failed to turn up for work at the Nationwide Building Society in Mildenhall.

Her body was found three days later in an isolated woodland near a disused airfield in Langham.

Hilton, an auxiliary nurse, had been arrested in St Ives, Cornwall 24 hours before the body was found.

During the trial Timothy Barnes, prosecuting, had told the jury that it was possible Ms Fuller had "signed her own death warrant" by reading two text messages sent to her from a male friend on the evening of her death, prompting Hilton to fly into a fit of rage and "choke the life out of her".

He added Hilton was a "violent bully" who showed remorse only after Ms Fuller's death to make things easier for himself.