Natalie Jarvis (pictured just days before her death) was brutally murdered by boyfriend Adam Whelehan

by Keith Hunt and Julia Roberts

The family of a young woman "savagely" murdered by her boyfriend have today spoken of their heartache as her killer was jailed for life.

Adam Whelehan, 23, shook his head as he was told he must serve at least 26 years after slitting the throat of Natalie Jarvis in a quiet street in Swanley Village.

The "evil" BT apprentice engineer hatched a plot to kill the 23-year-old - whom he believed to be pregnant - because he saw it as the only way of ending their relationship.

He was sentenced today at Maidstone Crown Court after yesterday being convicted of murder - when jurors acquitted his friend Thomas Fuller, also 23, of the same charge.

Reading a family statement, Natalie's father Mark said outside court: "Natalie Jarvis was the most amazing person anyone could wish to meet. She was beautiful inside and out.

"Her smile and laughter were infectious and the love she had for life, and everyone in her life, was overwhelming.

"Our family has been horrifically ripped apart by the senseless, savage slaughter of the most loving sister and daughter anyone could ask for.

"Our home and lives are now a void of crushing silence without Natalie's insatiable lust for life.

"No sentence is long enough for Adam Whelehan. We cannot get our beloved Natalie back. Our hearts have been shattered and can never be mended.

"Our lives will never be the same again without our sweet beautiful Natalie."

He was flanked by Natalie's mother Adele and sister Gemma who, along with other family members and friends, wore badges with the letter N inside a baby blue star - the young woman's favourite colour - to honour her.

Their tributes came as chilling messages posted by Adam Whelehan on Twitter on the day he murdered Natalie (pictured above right) emerged today.

He tweeted "Look in my eyes, what do you see?". Six hours later, Natalie was brutally stabbed 20 times.

And just two days earlier on October 1, a chilling tweet read: "If I'm going to hell you're coming with me".

Murderer Adam Whelehan poses with pint in his Twitter profile picture

Earlier, prosecutor Ian Acheson spoke of the "extraordinarily eloquent" nine-page victim statement submitted to the court by much-loved Natalie's grieving family.

Judge Philip Statman said Whelehan had not decided to kill Natalie the night before, but it was premeditation nurtured over many weeks.

Whelehan stared ahead as the judge told him: "On October 3, 2012 you lured Natalie Jarvis from her home address with an offer sent by text of casual sex which was to have taken place in your vehicle.

The family of Natalie Jarvis were joined by police officers outside court

"She made the journey with you to the area of Button Street to a quiet location, as we can see from our photos, and where you had journeyed before. You had with you in your vehicle a multi-tool which had within its body a knife.

"You took that weapon of offence with you, in my judgement, with the express purpose of stabbing Natalie Jarvis to death.

"On arrival at Button Street both of you exited the car. You then proceeded to stab Natalie Jarvis to death, inflicting 20 stab wounds to her neck.

"From the computer graphics and the blood distribution from Natalie, we can follow her last steps up Button Street and into Swanley Village Road – and you left her to die in a country lane and returned to your vehicle.

"Your attack upon her was callous, it was savage and it was premeditated. I am fortified in each of these views by the manner in which you gave your evidence before the jury – no sign of or, indeed, a flicker of emotion."

Judge Statman said Whelehan had tried to create a false picture that Natalie had sought to threaten him in the past or that she had inflicted a wound on his hand at the start of the incident.