It has been 22 years since the brutal murder of Northumbria University student Sara Cameron.
Sara, 23, was killed as she walked home in Earsdon, near Whitley Bay, from Shiremoor Metro station after a night out in April 2000. The sports management student had been celebrating with friends in Newcastle city centre after securing a dream job at the Olympic Games in Australia just hours before she was murdered.
Her attacker stalked her as she walked from the Metro station then grabbed her, attempted to rape her and choked her to death.
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Her naked body was found under a hedge in a field close to her home on April 21, 2000.
Sara's death sparked one of the region's longest-running unsolved killing mysteries. Despite almost 3,000 calls to the murder incident room and more than 5,000 DNA samples being taken from men on North Tyneside, no substantial links were ever made.
However, four years later, detectives had a major breakthrough in the case. Michael Robinson, 30, had been arrested for a minor criminal damage matter, but after he was routinely swabbed for the incident, his DNA matched with the samples from Sara's murder.
Robinson, who moved from Tyneside to Newhaven, East Sussex, confessed to the killing in a series of interviews after his arrest. In October 2004 he was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 17 years in prison. Today, more than two decades after Sara's murder, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that Robinson remained behind bars.
Following Sara's death, her dad, Roy, showed extraordinary compassion for the parents of her killer.
He said: "Sleep now, sweetheart. Your mum and dad will always have the memory of our beautiful daughter.
"Because we are parents our heart goes out to the family of this man for the pain they will now have to bear. May God forgive him."
Tragically, so many more women have been murdered and attacked by men since Sara's shocking murder. The deaths of Sara Everard and Sabina Nessa in London led to the launch of Women's Street Watch Newcastle last year, a group of volunteers patrolling the city's streets to keep women safe at night.
And, in recent months, there have been a number of reported rapes in Newcastle that have sparked police investigations. A woman was reported to have been raped by an unknown man in Leazes Park on Friday, April 1, at around 6.30pm. On, Monday, March 28, a woman reported she had been attacked in the Rising Sun Country Park, in Benton, at about 4.10pm near the Pit Heap area.
Another woman was reportedly raped behind Beech Hill Primary School, off Linhope Road in West Denton, at around 12.30am on October 10.
Reflecting on Sara's murder, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, said women's safety continues to remain a priority for police.
“Women’s safety back then, and still now, remains an absolute priority for Northumbria Police," she said.
"Women shouldn’t have to think about which is the safest route to walk home, or which park they need to avoid – they should feel safe in all our communities across the region. Sadly though, we know these are factors women still consider on a daily basis.
"And for me, as a woman and Police Commissioner, that just isn’t good enough."
The North East police boss said the force was taking action to address women's concerns, with projects including Safer Parks, Safer Transport Northumbria, and Safety of Women at Night.
Kim continued: "We are making progress however, I’ve listened to women’s concerns about safety on public transport, in parks, and in the night-time economy – there are now funded projects in place addressing these exact concerns. Small steps, and I will continue to listen and act, giving women the platform to have their concerns heard.
"But until women can go about their day without looking over their shoulder, we’ve still got work to do.”
