A fitness trainer who murdered a businesswoman on their first date later wrote a chilling letter to her father admitting his guilt.

Karl Taylor was told yesterday that he would spend at least 30 years in prison after being found guilty at the Old Bailey of stabbing Kate Beagley to death.

Miss Beagley, 32, agreed to go on a date with Taylor after her relationship had ended with a man she believed was the love of her life because he would not propose, the court was told.

Taylor, 27, claimed that Miss Beagley, a British Gas sales manager, had killed herself with his knife while they sat on a bench on Richmond Hill, southwest London, last May.

However, during police interviews he wrote a letter to her father, Alan Beagley, in which he admitted: “I might have took your daughter’s life but we all know, some of us more than others, that her heart still beats in the good we all do.”

He continued: “Without doubt what I did was wrong!!! But ask yourself this? Whose life have I really taken?”

Despite this admission Taylor, of Covent Garden, Central London, pleaded not guilty at court.

Taylor met Miss Beagley at the CC club at the Trocadero in the West End of London and they agreed to go on a date a few days later.

Miss Beagley’s best friend, Katherine Shreeves, said: “She had just come out of a turbulent relationship. She was completely in love with a man called Fraser. He wouldn’t commit to her in terms of marriage and Kate, more than anything, wanted a family.

“She was just trying to get over him really by trying to go out and meet other people.” During a police interview, Taylor admitted stabbing Miss Beagley during an argument when he tried to steal her car.

He told officers: “She pushed me away. She was grabbing me and I stabbed her in the throat because she was going for my face.”

He then stripped her body and washed it in mineral water in an attempt to remove his DNA before dumping it. He took detectives to Oxhey Wood near Watford, Hertfordshire, where they found her lying naked with 31 stab wounds to her face and neck. He had driven her body there in the boot of her grey Volkswagen Golf, which Taylor told police he had intended to steal when he met Miss Beagley.

He threw the murder weapon, her clothing and unwanted belongings on the roadside by the M1. Taylor later showed off “his new car” to friends and family. He sold Miss Beagley’s mobile phone to a friend.

But in court Taylor insisted that Miss Beagley, of Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, had killed herself with a carving knife that he had taken on the date. Using an envelope he demonstrated to the jury how he claimed Miss Beagley had killed herself.

“She was probing herself in the neck and grabbing her hair so the knife was moving round different parts of her head,” he told the court. “I realised she passed away. I was crying profusely.” Among his victim’s belongings was a book called You Can Heal Your Life in which Miss Beagley had recorded notes about problems in her work and personal life. Taylor read the book and used the information to try to trick her friends into believing that she was still alive when they parted.

Police initially treated Miss Beagley’s disappearance as a kidnapping and her friends organised a campaign on the Facebook social networking website to help in the search.

In a victim impact statement read to court, Mr Beagley, of Staines, Surrey, said that his wife suffered frequent nightmares after the murder.

“I feel cold and empty and will never lose that feeling,” he wrote. “Kate was so vibrant and full of life . . . [She] was so badly damaged that we could not see her to say goodbye. What must it have felt during those last seconds as she was savagely struck down?” Judge Giles Forrester, jailing Taylor for life without the possibility of parole for at least 30 years, said: “You are arrogant, you are manipulative and you are highly dangerous.

He added: “You went to meet this girl equipped with a knife. She was doing no more than looking to you for friendship. You took advantage of the vulnerability of that girl for your own ends.”

Whose life have I taken?

Karl Taylor admitted murdering Kate Beagley in a letter to her father, Alan, written between interviews at Staines police station:

“My name is Karl. I am the guy that met your daughter (Katie) on Friday night!

To be honest my first impression of her was she is a kind but unhappy girl to some respect. Anyway for the short time I met your daughter I began to see she was an angel but in the dark.

Even though Katie is not with us she still shines brightly as a star in the night sky.

I might have took your daughter’s life but we all know, some of us more than others, that her heart still beats in the good we all do and her soul lives on with all the good memories of her.

My life has and many years ago not been with me from significant events destroying my heart, but your lives, and in with much respect Katie’s will not be a memory but a certainly real happiness that angels do live on Earth but sometimes have to go to Heaven.

We live in a world where life is hard for all, and those who try and embrace the good nature get rejected!

Without any doubt what I did was wrong!!! But ask yourself this? Whose life have I really taken?

I don’t expect by writing you this I will soften your pain but as birds sing and flowers grow in spring remember Katie and let the love you have and always had for her and always will be like the drum beats in your heart when she first opened her eyes.

Remember you have not lost her since she never lost you.

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