Man guilty of murdering student

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A 24-year-old man who claimed he did not intend to kill a girl he strangled has been found guilty of murder.

Barry Reeve from Milton Keynes killed Joanna Dalzell after she accused him of raping her at his Buckinghamshire flat, Luton Crown Court heard.

He dumped the body in a canal where he thought it would be undiscovered and to hide evidence he took his bedding and clothing to a tip where he worked.

The jury found him guilty of murder and he will be sentenced on Monday.

Reeve, of Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, had admitted manslaughter but pleaded not guilty to murder.

Girls' night out

The court heard on the day following the killing Reeve passed the canal and saw a lot of police activity.

He realised the body had been found and went to Milton Keynes police station front desk where he said: "I have strangled a female".

Ms Dalzell, 20, had completed two years of a degree course in criminology at Portsmouth University and wanted to join the police.

She was at home in Milton Keynes for the summer vacation and on 10 August last year during a girls' night out in Central Milton Keynes she met Reeve for the first time.

The court heard she "uncharacteristically" went home with him at the end of the night.

Severe bruising on head

The following morning her body was found in the canal at Stoke Hammond, near Leighton Buzzard, by a driver who pulled into a lay-by on the A 4146.

Prosecutor Benjamin Gumpert said Reeve had bit Ms Dalzell severely during sex and it was likely she began screaming.

"He hit her at least once on the side of the head which caused severe bruising and swelling and then intense pressure was placed around her neck by manual strangulation for at least 30 seconds," Mr Gumpert said.

Reeve had claimed Ms Dalzell's death was more of an accident because when he put his hands round her neck to stop her screaming she suddenly slumped to the ground.

His defence team suggested she had been the victim of a rare occurrence where a nerve in the neck is trapped and causes instant death.