A man who wove "a web of lies" to try to avoid capture has been jailed for 16 years for the murder of his girlfriend, whose body he dumped in a canal.

Manzar Juma, of Hexham Gardens, Northolt, was convicted at the Old Bailey of murdering 23-year-old Ruby Love, from Harrow, on Christmas Day, 2011.

He was sentenced to life in prison and told he must serve a minimum of 16 years before being considered for release.

Detective Chief Inspector Tim Duffield, of the Metropolitan Police's homicide and serious crime command, said: "Today the truth finally caught up with Manzar Jama. Not only did he strangle Ruby and callously dump her body in a canal, he then wove a web of lies to try to avoid capture.

"Our deepest sympathies go out to Ruby Love's friends and family as they try to come to terms with their loss and I hope that today's conviction provides them with some small measure of solace."

The court heard how Ms Love had suffered domestic abuse at Juma's hands for a number of years.

By Christmas 2011, the pair were living apart and Ms Love was living at her mother’s house in Harrow.

On Christmas Eve that year Juma collected her from the house, and shortly afterwards Ms Love sent a text message to a friend saying the pair getting back together and were planning to go to a friend’s house before going for a meal.

The pair never arrived at the house and a friend called Juma, who denied any knowledge of the plans or having seen Ms Love since their last split.

In the early hours of Christmas morning a couple living next door to Juma heard shouting coming from his flat heard a faint female voice pleading "no".

Roughly three hours later neighbours were woken by him entering the flat before leaving again in his Vauxhall Zafira.

That same morning at 5.40am CCTV captured his car travelling along the Uxbridge Road in Southall before turning into Bankside near the Grand Union Canal.

Ms Love’s body was found by a dog walker at 11.42am on Christmas morning. She was fully clothed and floating face down in the canal.

A post mortem revealed she had died from compression of the neck caused by a ligature.

Juma was arrested on December 27 and his Zafira seized. Forensic evidence linked Ms Love’s body to the boot of the car and he was charged with her murder on December 29, 2011.