Life sentence for Jeshma killer

She was last seen on 16 May 2005 leaving Claremont High School in Kenton, where she was studying for her A-levels.

When she was discovered on 24 May in deep undergrowth in Sudbury Hill, west London, police initially thought she had been held elsewhere before her body was dumped.

This was because initial forensic testing could not provide an exact time or place of death leaving detectives with a number of possibilities and varying lines of enquiry to follow up.

One of these was she had met her killer in an online chatroom dedicated to people aspiring for a career in show business.

Usual route home

But, using CCTV images, police established that after she left school she caught a bus to Wembley and went shopping in the High Street, before catching another bus to Sudbury Hill.

It is from there she would take her usual route home using the path running along the recreation ground by David Lloyd Leisure.

It was close to this path that she was raped and murdered.

Officers searched a number of addresses near where Jeshma lived with her parents in Greenford, west London.

Dembovskis bought a one-way ticket to Latvia

They discovered Latvian Viktor Dembovskis had fled the country on 20 May leaving behind his personal belongings.

Amongst these was a blue fleece jacket. In this jacket was bloodstained jewellery, later identified as Jeshma's. DNA found on the jacket also matched Jeshma's.

At the murder scene was a set of keys that did not belong to Jeshma. These were found to fit the locks to the address and room were Dembovskis lived.

CCTV images showed he had gone to Victoria coach station and purchased a one-way ticket to Latvia.

A European arrest warrant was obtained, and detectives travelled to Latvia to work with the local authorities to trace Dembovskis.

The sense of loss and desolation that we feel is beyond description Manjula and Suresh Raithatha

On 2, June he was arrested at his home address in Livani, about 90 miles south-east of the Latvian capital Riga and was deported on the 8 June.

It was then established that Dembovskis had committed a string of offences in Latvia since the age of 16, including two rapes.

He had been jailed in Latvia for two years for misappropriation and soon after his release in 1981 he was sentenced to three years for theft.

In 1985, he received an 18 month correctional training sentence for a passport offence and later sentenced to four and a half years for a sexual act with a girl under 16.

He received a seven year term for rape in 1990 and a three year term for the same offence in 1999.

'Cruel and horrific'

Jeshma's parents Manjula and Suresh said: "Jeshma was on the threshold of her 18th birthday.

"She was a playful and caring person, who adored life. She had such hopes and dreams for her future which was cut short in the most cruel and horrific manner.

"We have been devastated by Jeshma's death. The sense of loss and desolation that we feel is beyond description.

Jeshma was caught on CCTV in Primark in Wembley High Road

"For a parent to outlive a child is against the law of nature, and to have a child taken away in such a cruel manner is beyond comprehension.

"The man who took Jeshma's life in this senseless manner has a violent past. He had spent time in prison in his own country for the rape of two women.

"Yet he was easily allowed into this country. We have to ask how and why this came about - what checks were made about his background before he was allowed to set foot on British soil?

"Although the family is relieved that justice has been done, Jeshma can't be brought back.

"Our loss is forever- this man's actions cannot be undone. His punishment should be a message to others that the taking of innocent lives will not be tolerated in a civilised society."