British woman murdered by boyfriend on Lapland husky farm

Karel Frybl jailed for life for stabbing Rebecca Johnson 40 times in a 'ferocious, brutal and violent' attack

Rebecca Johnson worked with a Santa tourism company in Lapland (Facebook)

A man has been jailed for life for stabbing his British girlfriend to death at a husky farm in Lapland, Finland, in an attack described as "ferocious, brutal and violent ".

Czech national Karel Frybl stabbed Rebecca Johnson 40 times in the assault at a cottage in Kultimantie in December 2016.

She had defensive wounds and some stab wounds to her back meaning she must have turned away from her attacker at some point as she tried to escape.

Ms Johnson, 26, from Burntisland, Fife, was a member of the Santa Safari team which works with Oxford-based tour operator Transun Travel to organise Christmas-themed excursions to Lapland.

After the attack Frybl left the scene with some of his dogs and walked around two-and-a-half miles into the woods before being arrested.

Frybl admitted culpable homicide at an earlier court hearing but had denied the murder.

He claimed he suffered a loss of control at the time of the attack and could not recall anything of the stabbings.

However a psychiatric report ordered by the court found Frybl was not insane at the time of the incident.

The court in Rovaniemi found there was no doubt the crime was committed in a "particularly ferocious, brutal and violent manner".

It said the violence she suffered was well beyond culpable homicide and found him guilty of murder.

Frybl was given life in prison, but in Finland the sentence is rarely more than 14 years. He was also told to pay just under €40,000 (£35,000) in compensation.

The court had earlier heard that the couple had argued the night before Ms Johnson was stabbed to death and had slept in separate cottages on the husky farm.

Additional reporting by PA