A QUIET memorial service will be held this Friday for the murdered North-East student, whose death triggered one of the region's biggest ever police inquiries.

Students and university staff will join mourners from Finland, where 23-year-old Sara Cameron was born, for the service at the University of Northumbria, Newcastle where she studied. Her parents Roy and Sara Cameron will also attend.

Sara was strangled yards from her home in Earsdon near Whitley Bay on Good Friday earlier this year.

Police have since interviewed 4,000 people and DNA tested 1,300 men in their attempts to catch the killer.

During the service a flowering camellia will be planted and a bench placed nearby. Plaques with student tributes will also be unveiled and Finnish and British flags flown. A dove will also be released to symbolise the sports management student's spirit and freedom.

Sara's course leader at the University of Northumbria Lindsay King, said: "In the short time she studied at the University of Northumbria, Sara made a tremendous impact in terms of her talent, experience and personality. We will never forget her."

Sara was murdered while returning home after socialising with friends before she was due to take a work placement job in Sydney helping in the organisation of the Olympic Games