A man who strangled a teenager and dumped her body in a reservoir after she refused to have sex with him has been jailed for life.

Lewis Haines was handed a minimum term of 23 years and four months for the murder of Lily Sullivan, who he met at a nightclub in Pembroke, southwest Wales, last December.

Haines, 31, and Miss Sullivan, 18, had kissed at the venue on 16 December and went to a nearby alleyway together, where they became more intimate.

Judge Paul Thomas QC said it was clear that after spending around an hour in the lane together, Haines had become “frustrated” and attacked Miss Sullivan for rebuffing his sexual advances.

The teenager was later found face down and topless in a nearby reservoir after Haines made her walk to the lake and “forcibly” removed her cream lace top.

After murdering Miss Sullivan, Haines walked past his victim’s mother, Anna Sullivan, as she waited to pick her daughter up from a nearby garage.

‘The truth will haunt me for the rest of my life’

In a statement, Ms Sullivan branded Haines as “pure evil” and said he looked her “straight in the eyes, knowing what he had done” to her “beautiful” daughter as he passed her.

“The events of the night Lily died go over in my mind constantly, and I wake up in the night picturing Lily in the water, wondering if she knew what was happening, if she was scared,” she said.

“I wish I had stopped Lily going out that night. I picture the male responsible for Lily’s death who I saw in the garage and wish I’d confronted him.

“Knowing I was that close to her, I wish I’d gotten out of my car and walked.

“I will always wonder if I could have saved her.

“These thoughts never leave me and I can’t stop thinking about it. I have to live with the fact that I will now never know what really happened to Lily that night.

“I suspect the actual truth will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

As Haines was taken down to the cells, Miss Sullivan’s family and friends shouted “rot in hell” and “monster”.

‘His intention was to silence her’

Father-of-one Haines admitted murdering Miss Sullivan but denied sexual misconduct, claiming his victim had threatened to accuse him of rape.

At the time, Haines was going through family court proceedings to have access to his child, and had a girlfriend.

“He strangled Lily in order to prevent her telling people he had tried to get her to go further than she was willing,” Judge Thomas said.

“His intention was to silence her. He didn’t want anyone to know what had happened in the lane.”

Miss Sullivan’s social media contained a number of poignant posts about misogyny, sexual violence and women being killed by men, including a photograph of floral tributes left for Sarah Everard with a sign that read: “She was just walking home.”

Another post several weeks later listed 80 women who had been killed by men since Miss Everard was murdered by Met Police officer Wayne Couzens.

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