A student's killer who escaped justice for more than four years was jailed for life yesterday.

Bus driver Michael Robinson, 30, will serve a minimum of 17 years behind bars for the murder and attempted rape of Sara Cameron, whose naked body was discovered on Good Friday in April 2000.

Finnish-born Sara was killed the night before she was due to take up her dream job at the Sydney Olympics.

Robinson, a former soldier, followed the 23-year-old off a late night Metro train from Newcastle, where she had been enjoying farewell drinks with friends.

The former Household Cavalry private strangled her in a field 100 yards from her home in Earsdon, North Tyneside.

He admitted murder and attempted rape at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday.

Paul Worsley QC, prosecuting, told the hearing: "For four years, Michael Robinson lived with a guilty secret.

"For four years, he showed no remorse. He breathed not a word of what he had done."

Robinson confessed he harboured rape fantasies to a doctor after his arrest and admitted stalking two women before he attacked Sara.

The court also heard how he was prone to drink-fuelled violence and, in the past, had killed family pets.

Mr Justice Henriques branded the defendant exceptionally dangerous and said the last minutes of his victim's life "must have been terrifying, painful and humiliating".

Speaking outside the court, where he fought to control his emotions, Sara's father, Roy, said: "It has been a long, long run, but we have crossed the finishing line."

Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Bolam, who led the investigation, said: "Sara was bright, intelligent and had everything to look forward to.

"We always said we were determined to catch her killer and always said it was only a matter of time."

Robinson was caught by chance.

He was cautioned by officers in North Shields early last year over his part in a dispute with a neighbour in Waterville Road.

They took a routine DNA swab from his mouth and, almost a year later, it showed up on the national database as a match with semen found on Sara's body.

By then, Robinson had moved to the South Coast, where he has relatives.

Northumbria Police quickly traced him and he was arrested on February 13, and charged on St Valentine's Day.

Fluent in five languages, Finnish-born Sara was a volunteer at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and also worked as a secretary in Brussels before deciding to study in Britain.

She came to Newcastle in September 1998 to study European Sports management at Northumbria University. She took bar jobs and worked as a fitness instructor to pay her way.

On Thursday, April 23, 2000, she went out for a parting drink with friends and colleagues on Newcastle's Quayside. The next day she was to take a coach to London, before flying to Sydney for her job at the Olympics.

Detectives later traced her movements on security cameras. She took the last Metro train from the city centre to Shiremoor, North Tyneside.

Robinson had been on a day off and was also drinking in Newcastle, with colleagues from Stagecoach.

He took an earlier train back from the city centre than Sara, but for some reason got off before his usual stop.

Grainy security camera footage, which was later enhanced, showed him running across the tracks at Longbenton Metro station, minutes before he boarded Sara's carriage.

He followed her off the train and pursued her as she walked home the last mile to the terraced house in the village of Earsdon that she shared with a friend.

He left her naked body in a field, attempted to burn some of her clothes and scattered the rest.

In the months and years that followed Sara's murder, Robinson continued to live in North Shields and only moved to Newhaven, East Sussex, where he was arrested, late last year.

Det Chief Supt Bolam said the killer showed no remorse throughout his police interviews - until the officers themselves brought it up.

Robinson's incomplete version of events that night leaves many mysteries unsolved.

Detectives are still baffled as to why there were no signs of Sara trying to fight off her attacker.

"It would appear she was taken completely by surprise," said Det Chief Supt Bolam.

"We spent four years investigating this and we want all the answers. But the reality of dealing with a case like this is that you don't get them all."