Like so many single women of her age, Geraldine Palk had been enjoying a night out in Cardiff's city centre, enjoying a pre-Christmas celebration with friends from work.

The 26-year-old secretary from the suburb of Fairwater had spent the evening at Jackson's night club in Westgate Street.

It was just unbridled violence

Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Jones

But just hours later, South Wales Police were launching one of their biggest murder inquiries after the discovery of her body just yards from the home she shared with her parents.

On Monday, carpet fitter Mark Hampson was beginning a life sentence for Geraldine Palk's brutal murder just before Christmas 1990.

Detectives found Ms Palk had been the victim of a brutal sex attack which ended in her being stabbed to death.

She had been raped, battered, and knifed more than 80 times, after which her half-naked body had been dumped face down in a stream.

Detective Chief Superintendent Phil Jones said at the time there was evidence she had put up a struggle in different parts of the field.

The murder took place near Fairwater Leisure Centre

"It was the most brutal attack I have been a party to investigating in my police career," he said.

"It was just unbridled violence."

In the decade that followed her death, detectives took DNA samples from 5,000 men.

It was one of the most extensive screening programmes ever undertaken by a British police force, but it was not until 2001 that DNA evidence would provide the key to the murder puzzle.

He killed her family, not just Geraldine

Friend Joan Brinkworth

Random DNA tests at Dartmoor prison led them to Hampson, who was coming to the end of a four-year sentence for assault.

He was arrested by detectives from Cardiff as he left the prison and driven away for questioning.

Tests indicated that there was just a one in a billion chance that someone else was responsible.

Ms Palk's death was the first in a series of tragic events for her family.

Her mother Cynthia Palk, 61, was knocked down and killed by a car as she walked past the spot where the body was found.

Anguish

Neighbours said the retired nurse had never got over her daughter's brutal death. The following year, her husband, Les, died from liver cancer.

At the time of Hampson's arrest, her brother Neil said the family had endured many years of anguish and appealed for the family's privacy to be respected.

Sensitive of community concerns as the court case approached, South Wales Police set up a community liaison group to keep residents informed on the progress of the trial.

Throughout the trial, officers contacted the group members every day with information about developments.

5,000 people provided blood tests

Key community figures were chosen as the contacts, including local councillor Max Phillips, Fairwater clergyman Father Nigel Cahill, and Margaret Smith, a member of the local Police Consultative Panel.

Coun Phillips said Fairwater had changed considerably in the months after Ms Palk's death.

"Many people just said, 'We're not going out. We don't feel safe on the streets of Fairwater now - there's somebody out there who is dangerous'," he said.

Joan Brinkworth, a friend who played baseball with Ms Palk, said relatives never recovered from the loss of a much-loved daughter and sister.

"She was just a very pleasant girl, very close to her family, which has been torn apart," she said.

"He killed her family, not just Geraldine. Her mother, particularly, never came to terms with it at all.

"I'm glad that somebody has been caught for the murder, but really it's too late. Her mother and father will never see justice."