Abusive Boyfriend Strangled And Dumped Long-Suffering Girlfriend's Body In Canal On Xmas Day

A woman, who restarted her relationship with her abusive boyfriend on Christmas Eve was strangled by him within 24 hours and dumped in a canal.

Ruby Love, 23, (pic.top) had suffered domestic violence at the hands of Manzar Juma, 28, (pic.bottom) but left the safety of her mother's home to rekindle their turbulent union.

He is now starting a life sentence – with a sixteen-year minimum – after he was convicted at the Old Bailey of her murder.

Juma, of Hexham Gardens, Northolt, west London strangled Ruby with a ligature on December 25, 2011 and threw her into a nearby stretch of the Grand Union Canal.

He had collected her the day before, Christmas Eve, from her mother's home in Harrow at 5.30pm.

Shortly afterwards, Ruby sent a text message to a friend confirming she and Juma were back together again and he was going to take her out for a meal.

Ruby indicated they planned to visit the friend's house for a drink beforehand.

The couple never arrived and later Ruby's friend rang Juma to see where they were.

Juma answered, but denied any knowledge of such plans or having had any contact with Ruby since their last split.

Between 1:30am and 1:45am on Christmas morning a couple living next door to Juma heard shouting coming from his flat.

They also heard a faint female voice pleading "no".

Around three hours later the same neighbours were woken by Juma re-entering their block of flats before leaving again and driving away in his Vauxhall Zafira.

At 5:40am CCTV captured the vehicle traveling along the Uxbridge Road in Southall before turning into Bankside, a quiet cul-de-sac which runs parallel to the Grand Union Canal.

The footage revealed the Vauxhall Zafira remained in Bankside for approximately four minutes before it drove out and back onto the Uxbridge Road.

Ruby's body was discovered by a dog walker at 11:42am that same day.

She was fully-clothed and floating face-down in the canal.

A post mortem examination later concluded that she had died from compression of the neck caused by a ligature.

Later that afternoon Juma drove to West Ealing where he dumped Ms Love's mobile telephone in a rubbish bin.

He was arrested on December 27 and his Zafira seized.

Forensic evidence linked Ruby's body to the boot of his car.

Despite claiming that he had driven Ms Love to a venue in Southall and had left her safe and well, Juma was charged with her murder.

Detective Chief Inspector Tim Duffield, of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said after Juma was imprisoned: "Today the truth finally caught up with Manzar Jama.

“Not only did he strangle Ruby and callously dump her body in a canal, he then wove a web of lies to try to avoid capture.

"Our deepest sympathies go out to Ruby Love's friends and family as they try to come to terms with their loss and I hope that today's conviction provides them with some small measure of solace."