Jeffery Gafoor's house in Llanharan

Described in court as a "loner", it emerged that the 38-year-old had few friends when he was at school - and had not forged any other relationships in adult life.

His sister told police that Gafoor spent his time watching television or reading and rarely ventured out other than to go to work.

Shortly after the conviction of three other men for the murder in 1990, Gafoor moved to Germany for a while.

He recognised the onward march of forensic science and the capture of criminals as a result of DNA techniques Patrick Harrington QC

People he worked with there recalled how Gafoor would get offended - annoyed but not aggressive - if ever pornography was present.

He returned to south Wales, but weeks after the so-called Cardiff Three were released from prison on appeal in December 1992, Gafoor cut ties with family and friends and became a recluse.

Patrick Harrington, prosecuting, told Cardiff Crown Court that Gafoor, an intelligent man, feared the police would find out that he was the true killer.

Mr Harrington said: "He was intelligent, a reader.

"He recognised the onward march of forensic science and the capture of criminals as a result of DNA techniques."

Defending Gafoor, John Charles Rees, said: "He lived the life of a recluse.

"He blanked his memory so he could live with himself.

"He cut himself off.

"He has said to police that it was a relief that he was caught."

Gafoor was unknown to the police apart from a conviction for unlawful wounding dating from 1992.

He had struck a workmate over the head with a house brick following and argument and was given community service.

People living close to him in the small south Wales village of Llanharan, regarded him as quite strange.

Curtains drawn

The 38-year-old security guard worked at night and slept in the day with the curtains of his house drawn closed.

Gafoor moved to the village two years ago from Cardiff where he grew up in the Splott and Ely areas of the city.

For a while he lived with his father, who ran a shop in the Roath area, then lived rough and in a series of flats before buying a house, close to the rugby club in Bridgend Road, Llanharan.

He had only looked round the two-bedroomed terrace house before deciding he wanted it.

"He was a very nice chap. He had a nice sense of humour. Not many people knew him. I don't think the neighbours knew him," said a local woman.

Victim: Lynette White

"We never saw any family or friends coming and going."

Big news stories rarely touch Llanharan, a small village on the busy A473, a few miles east of Bridgend and close to Talbot Green.

When Gafoor was arrested in early March, police officers cordoned off the end-of-terrace property - which he filled with bric-a-brac and antiques - while a forensic team spent days searching for possible evidence.

One neighbour, who did not wish to be named, added: "We were all quite surprised when we heard the news; we could not get over it, nobody would believe it.

The neighbours thought he was a bit peculiar; he was a bit of a loner Resident, Llanharan

"It was a family home for years and it hurt to know that a murderer had been living there."

During a brief conversation one day, Gafoor had told the woman that his father was Indian and his mother had died.

Another neighbour living a few doors away in Bridgend Road said Gafoor was seen as a bit of a mystery by residents.

"We were quite shocked when we found out. When the police came to the house and I said, 'Is this about Lynette White?', they said 'yes', and I thought 'Blimey, after all this time'."

The room where Lynette White was brutally murdered

"The neighbours thought he was a bit peculiar; he was a bit of a loner, he did not know anybody. Living in a village, people get to know one another. He was relatively new here."

Little is known about Gafoor's lifestyle - he apparently had a tree cut down in the garden and once told a local woman he kept a coin collection.

Staff at a car repair garage opposite the house were concerned their noise during the day would keep the shift worker awake, but he never complained.

One of the few times Gafoor had any interaction with villagers was when he bought curtains from a charity shop in the village and the curtains in the house were usually kept drawn during the day.

Gafoor's former landlord Barrie James, who runs CPS Property Management in Cardiff, rented a flat to him for three years until 2000.

"He was a very private gentleman, a loner who seemed a bit tormented," he said.

"He wasn't a nice friendly guy. He would only speak to you out of necessity.

"My front door was only three metres away, but he would never dream of coming round to pay the rent personally.