KOCI SELAMAJ, 36, has been jailed for life for murdering primary schoolteacher Sabina Nessa in a “savage” sexually motivated attack. 

Handing down the sentence at the Old Bailey this morning, Mr Justice Sweeney said that 28-year-old Ms Nessa was the “wholly blameless victim of an absolutely appalling murder which was entirely the fault of the defendant.”

Her death added to “the sense of insecurity” particularly felt by women walking through London at night, he said. 

Mr Selamaj was sentenced to a minimum term of 36 years in his absence after he refused to attend the court.

Ahead of the sentencing, Ms Nessa’s sister described Mr Selamaj as a “coward” for refusing to face up to his crimes. 

Ms Nessa’s body was found concealed under grass in Cator Park, south-east London, on September 18 last year. 

She had been killed while passing through to meet friends at a bar the previous night. 

CCTV footage captured the moment Mr Selamaj ran up behind her, knocking her out by inflicting dozens of blows to the head with a 2ft traffic triangle.

He then dragged her limp body onto a grassy bank, where he partially undressed and strangled her, the court heard. 

Mr Selamaj had driven to London from his home in Eastbourne to carry out the killing.

The Old Bailey heard that he has a history of domestic violence against his ex-wife, including trying to throttle her several times. 

The prosecution had invited the court to conclude that there was a sexual motivation for the attack, even though a pathologist’s report had uncovered no positive evidence of an assault. 

The court heard how, just hours before the murder, Mr Selamaj had met his ex-wife and tried unsuccessfully to initiate sex with her in his car. The prosecutor suggested that this behaviour was “indicative of his premeditation to have some kind of sexual encounter that evening.”

He had pleaded guilty to the murder at an earlier hearing. 

On Thursday Ms Nessa was described by her parents Adbdur Rouf and Azibun Nessa as kind, funny and an animal lover, adding that her death had “shattered our world in pieces.”