Life for Finnish student's killer

Suvi Aronen was murdered in March 2003

A man who beat a Finnish student to death has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder.

Jason Dockrill, admitted killing Suvi Aronen, 23, but denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The jury was told that Miss Aronen's parents heard her cries for help on a mobile phone as she was attacked last March at Wanstead Common, east London.

The prosecution said Dockrill, of Stratford, east London, assaulted seven other women in a three-day period.

He was jailed for a total of nine and a half years, to run concurrently, after admitting four charges in relation to three of those women.

Sirpa Aronen had called her daughter at 1800 BST on 20 March from their home in Tampere, southern Finland, but was unable to talk to her, although she heard her crying.

Her husband picked up a telephone extension when he heard his wife scream, but could not tell what was happening.

The attack you made on Suvi Aronen was particularly savage. It was wicked and without remorse. I can find no mitigating factors Judge Michael Hyam

"I knew something evil was taking place," Mrs Aronen told the court.

"I heard Suvi's very desperate voice and she asked faintly for help, saying something like 'no more' in both Finnish and English.

"The voice was getting fainter and slightly confused as if she would not have strength left. It was an awful moment."

They called Finnish police and their daughter's landlord in Redbridge, east London, near where she was attacked.

But Miss Aronen, a student at the University of East London, was found dead the following day in woodland.

Jason Dockrill was described as depraved

After the case, Miss Aronen's family released a statement saying: "A major part of our ability to live a happy life died with Suvi.

We are, however, comforted by the lines of the poem: `Love is stronger than death. Even the powerful seas cannot extinguish it. For love is a gift from God'."

Richard Horwell, prosecuting, told the court Miss Aronen met an "appalling death".

He said unemployed Mr Dockrill, 34, had been motivated by sexual, anti-female and financial motives.

Recorder of London, Judge Michael Hyam, said after recommending he serve at least 25 years: "You engaged in sexual and sadistic conduct so brutal that doctors consider it exceptional.

"The attack you made on Suvi Aronen was particularly savage. Your conduct that day was predatory. It was wicked and without remorse. I can find no mitigating factors."

Detective Chief Inspector Bryan Sweeting, described the case as a "harrowing investigation" adding: "The nature of Suvi's death at the hands of Dockrill was brutal in the extreme.

"Dockrill is an extremely dangerous man. On the day he killed Suvi, he had already assaulted three other women, leaving them frightened and traumatised.

"Our thoughts are now with Suvi's parents and family whose lives have been turned upside down by her murder."