A BUS driver from Plymouth has been jailed for life after a court heard he murdered 18-year-old Alicia Eborne because she would not have sex with him.
Lee Holbrook detoured from his normal route and made sexual advances to the teenager who was the sole passenger on his bus, but strangled her when she threatened to tell the police, Plymouth Crown Court heard on Monday.
Thirty-nine-year-old Holbrook, who grew up in Buckland Monachorum, changed his plea to guilty and admitted strangling Alicia, from Cornwood near Ivybridge, with her scarf in November last year.
Judge William Taylor said: ?This was in my judgement an utter waste of a young innocent life - a life taken in lust and probably in panic.?
He sentenced Holbrook to life imprisonment and recommended he serve a minimum of eleven years and three months before being considered for parole.
The teenager disappeared after setting out from her home for Plymouth College of Further Education where she studied health and social care at 8.30am on November 7.
She boarded a 59 bus for Plymouth, driven by Holbrook, but was left alone after a group of schoolchildren got off at the village of Shaugh Prior. The court heard that the driver then detoured from his timetabled route onto a country lane and asked his passenger for sex.
When she rebuffed his advances and said she would tell the police, he ?panicked? and strangled her, said Martin Meeke QC prosecuting.
He then dumped her body before driving back to Bretonside Bus Station to continue his day?s work.
Mr Meeke said that when Holbrook finished work he returned to collect the body in a LandRover and drove it to Denham Woods near Buckland Monachorum ? where Holbrook used to play as a child ? and rolled Alicia?s body down a steep embankment.
?He followed after her and he covered her with leaves,? said Mr Meeke. ?Then he drove to Plymouth keeping Alicia?s handbag for some days under the seat of his LandRover.?
At 6pm on November 7, Alicia?s boyfriend called the patisserie in Plymouth where she worked part-time, but was told she had not turned up. She failed to answer messages or calls to her mobile phone.
Holbrook was first arrested on suspicion of abducting the student before being charged with murder after Alicia?s body was found, nine days after she went missing.
In his confession to police, which was read out in court, he said he and his wife loved each other but their physical relationship had petered out.
Paul Dunkels QC, defending, said Holbrook had initially pleaded not guilty to murder because he ?had shut out of his mind what his intentions must have been?. He said Holbrook had indicated that his ?principal wish? was to change places with Alicia.
After the case, Alicia?s parents, Joan and Anthony Eborne, said Holbrook should never be released.
?This reprehensible crime has destroyed the joy and happiness within our family,? they said. ?Alicia was the fun, laughter and sparkle in our family home; her loss has left us broken hearted.
?We sincerely believe and hope this reprobate should never be allowed into society again to cause this degree of pain and suffering to another family.?
The parents expressed thanks to the police and to ?all of our family and friends for their loving support and tremendous acts of kindness throughout this dark period in our lives?.