A Spanish sex predator has been found guilty of murdering teenage schoolgirl Caroline Dickinson on a school trip to France nearly eight years ago.
Grey-haired 54-year-old Francisco Arce Montes, from Gigon, was sentenced to 30 years with the possibility of parole after 20.
The jury of six women and three men, who deliberated with the three judges, reached the verdict in four hours.
Montes was found guilty following a six-day trial in Rennes, Brittany, of the charge of murder of a minor preceded, accompanied, or followed by rape.
Montes, seated in the dock of the ornate packed court room, remained deadpan as the verdict was read out.
Thirteen-year-old Caroline's father, John, 48, from Bodmin, Cornwall, looked straight at Montes.
Just minutes after the sentence on Montes, John Dickinson stood on the steps of the court with his wife Sue and said: "I would like to be able to say this in French but the emotion is too much. I'm speaking on behalf of Sue, Jenny and myself.
"The first thing to say is this is all about Caroline or 'Caz' as some of her friends knew her.
"Although her life was short, she was happy, we knew she had a life ahead of her full of promise.
"We have some wonderful memories that we will cherish and she will never be forgotten."
