Soldier Found Guilty Of Murdering Ex-Girlfriend

A soldier has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years for murdering his ex-girlfriend after stalking her, breaking into her flat and cutting her neck open from ear to ear.

Lance Corporal Trimaan "Harry" Dhillon, 26, was convicted of murdering Alice Ruggles and leaving her to bleed to death on her bathroom floor in Gateshead last October.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that she felt "harassed, alarmed and distressed" and had got an official police warning to stop him from contacting her, but the obsessive and manipulative Special Forces-hopeful ignored it, and drove from his Edinburgh barracks to Tyneside to kill her in a jealous temper.

Detective Chief Inspector Lisa Theaker, of Northumbria Police, said at the time 'they would not have been able to predict that he would go on to murder Alice':

"Alice didn't fully understand his level of behaviour and the stalking and the lengths of behaviour he was going to. The family and the friends won't have fully understood it either

"Alice spoke to a number of police officers and she spoke to Victims First and we went through a risk assessment. And as a result of that we would not have been able to predict at that stage that he would go on to murder Alice."

Miss Ruggles' family wept and hugged each other when the verdict was recorded.

There was no visible reaction from her killer.

Dhillon had said Miss Ruggles died when she lunged at him with a carving knife and the weapon ended up in her neck when he blocked her.

The prosecution claimed she suffered six or more slices to the neck which went through to her spine.

Alice Ruggles, 24, had told police she felt "terrified" of her ex-boyfriend and unsafe in her own home days before she was found.

He told the court he 'never at any point considered himself to be stalking her', despite making three 240-mile round trips to be around her house at night.

The 26-year-old said he had no justification, and admitted his obsessive behaviour.

Despite professing to love Miss Ruggles, who was described by friends as full of life and fun, the 2 SCOTS signaller was also serially unfaithful.

Richard Wright QC, prosecuting, had told the defendant:

"You plagued the last few weeks of this poor girl's life and made it miserable."

Dhillon told jurors he loved her, because she made him feel special and he liked how she looked:

"We used to share the craziest sense of humour together and I knew everything about her (...) That's not because I stalked her, that's because I used to care and listen every time."

Following the murder, the case was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), who sent it back to the force for an internal investigation.