THE FATHER of missing schoolgirl Tulay Goren has been sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder in a so-called honour killing.

The former Woodbridge High School student was 15 when she was last seen at her family home in Glastonbury Avenue, Woodford Green, in January 1999.

Her father, Mehmet Goren, 49, of Navestock Crescent, disapproved of her relationship with Halil Unal, who was 15 year her senior and from a different Muslim sect.

Tulay's uncles, Cuma Goren, 43, of Evesham Avenue, Walthamstow, and Ali Goren, 56, of Brettenham Road, Walthamstow, were both acquitted of her murder, following the 11-week trial at the Old Bailey.

Along with Tulay's father, they were also found not guilty of conspiring to murder Mr Unal between May 1998 and February 1999.

Before her death Tulay had twice run away from home. She told police that her father had beat her and was forcing her to end the relationship.

After finding Tulay living with Mr Unal, it is thought the family grudgingly accepted the couple could live together if they got married. But arrangements made in December 1998 were abandoned when the registrar realised Tulay was underage.

Tulay returned home on January 6, 1999, and it is believed her father murdered her the next day, when they were left alone in the house.

Police have yet to find her body, despite an exhaustive search. It is thought Goren buried Tulay's body temporarily in the back garden of the family home before disposing of it elsewhere.

On January 20, Goren lured Mr Unal to the Thatched House pub in Leytonstone High Road and attacked him about his head with an axe.

Goren, who had previously been imprisoned in Turkey and Saudi Arabia, was convicted of grievous bodily harm, for which he served three years of a five-year sentence. He was due to be deported, but successfully appealed against the order.

Speaking immediately after the trial, Detective Chief Inspector Gerry Campbell of the Met's Violent Crime Directorate, said: "I want to be absolutely clear that there is no honour in the murder of another human being. Where is the honour in the murder of a defenceless child - a 15-year-old girl?”