A TEENAGER convicted of ofences in Oxfordshire has been jailed for murdering a girl he had sex with in Northern Ireland.

Thomas Purcell, 18, who now lives in Belfast, admitted battering Megan McAlorum, 16, to death with a log in a forest after they had sex in the early hours of Easter Sunday in 2004.

During the court case it emerged Purcell had previous convictions dating back to 2000 when he made a series of appearances at Oxford Youth Court. His convictions included six robberies, common assault, shoplifting, motoring offences and harassment.

In July 2002, he was convicted of arson after causing £250,000 damage to a thatched Balinese pavilion at Sir Richard Branson's country home, Mill End House, Kidlington.

Since the murder he had been jailed for three years for a knifepoint robbery in Northern Ireland. Mr Justice McLaughlin heard at court in Newry there was evidence Miss McAlorum was raped before she was murdered, but John Orr, prosecuting, said it could not be proved.

Purcell changed his plea to guilty in April as his trial was due to begin.

In a report drawn up following the plea, he told a psychologist: "I met the girl, we had sex, I got angry and killed her that's all."

Later he elaborated, claiming that after consensual sex "she looked at me in a sneering way and said I was the first gypsy she had had sex with".

Terence McDonald, defending, said: "The upbringing of the accused can only be described as squalid, abusive and completely lacking in any moral compass." Mr Justice McLaughlin ordered Purcell should serve 15 years before he is considered for release.