Helen Anderson: Boyfriend jailed for mother-of-four's murder

A man has been jailed for life for the murder of a mother-of-four whose body was found in undergrowth by a roadside.

The body of Helen Anderson, 41, from Finsbury Park in north London, was found beside a slip-road of the A3 near Guildford, Surrey, on 23 August.

Dane Messam, 52, of no fixed address, was found guilty of Ms Anderson's murder at a previous hearing at Guildford Crown Court.

He was ordered to serve at least 23 years in prison.

When Ms Anderson's body was found, her family described her as "a dear sister and daughter" with "a big heart".

Surrey Police said Ms Anderson had been in an on-and-off relationship with Messam prior to her death.

After Messam was sentenced, Det Ch Insp Emma Vickers said: "This was a tragic case where a woman lost her life at the hands of a man she loved who abused her trust."

She said Ms Anderson's body was found wrapped in a duvet and a plastic sheet.

Ms Vickers said the couple had gone to Brighton in July on a decommissioned double-decker bus they travelled in regularly.

The couple had planned to fly to Jamaica on 25 August, but two days earlier - the day Ms Anderson's body was found - Messam cancelled her ticket, Ms Vickers said.

Officers also found Messam's bus had broken down in London on 24 August and pictures taken by the breakdown recovery service showed brushes and water buckets, suggesting it had been cleaned.

On 25 August, Messam was seen driving his bus out of London.

Detectives believe he was driving his bus to a storage location before flying to Jamaica - but instead police arrested him on suspicion of murder.

Ms Vickers said: "After killing Helen, we believe he left her body in Surrey, a place which she had no connection to, in the hope that his hideous crime would go undetected long enough for him to escape the country."

She said Messam had acted "entirely in self-interest".

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