THREE British soldiers serving in Cyprus were yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment for the savage killing of a young tour guide.
Privates Allan Ford, Justin Fowler and Geoff Pernell were each given a further five years imprisonment for abducting 23 year old Louise Jensen and another five year term for conspiring to rape her.
Passing sentence at Larnaca assizes court, the president of the judges panel, Mr Takis Eliades, told the Britons that they had been responsible for one of the most heinous crimes of recent years.
Mr Eliades told the court: "The tragic victim, alone, and unprotected, had no possibility of defending herself in the presence of the superior strength of the three British servicemen."
He told the court that the barbarity with which the victim was killed was evidenced by the 15 blows which Louise suffered in the fatal attack.
Mr Eliades said: "The sentence must reflect the seriousness of the taking away of human life, which is the paramount gift to man."
The three defendants stood grim faced as the sentences were handed down.
Outside the court, Louise Jensen's family they would sue the British government and the army.
"The family feels there must be a responsibility on the part of the British government," said Mr Poul Jensen, the dead girl's father.
Asked if the family would try to sue he said, "yes". "It's not about money, he added.
"The next step is to see if it is in any way possible to place responsibility on the British army band the British government," Mr Jensen said.
His wife, Annette, wiping tears from her eyes, said: "I'm glad it's all over," referring to the case which dragged over eight months, making it one of the longest in Cypriot legal history.
Her husband, a civil servant who opposes capital punishment, said the verdict "was the best we could have hoped for".
The defence lawyers had asked for leniency because the men were drunk on the night of the killing and had expressed repentance and sympathy for their victim's family, but the plea was dismissed by the judge.
The case has proved a serious embarrassment for the British army, which has two bases in Cyprus and whose off duty soldiers have a reputation for getting involved in drunken brawls in local bars.