The following statement was read to the media at the Inner London Crown Court yesterday by George Eager, father of Georgina Eager. He was accompanied by his family:
On behalf of the family of Georgina Eager I wish to make the following statement.
Georgina was a lovely, gentle daughter and sister. She was also patient, determined and focused.
She was great fun, loved to have a laugh and lived life to the full.
Nothing that has happened here will bring her back to us but we warmly welcome this verdict today. It will help us find some peace and help us to deal with her brutal murder and we are grateful for that.
We do not know why we had to come to London to find justice. Only yesterday we learnt that the British authorities had requested that the Irish authorities seek the extradition of the accused so that the trial could be held in Dublin where the crime was committed.
Because the Irish authorities refused to do so the case was heard in London instead.
With this verdict, we have found some justice for Georgina's murder from the British justice system but we still have not received answers to our questions from our own authorities in Ireland.
We still want to know why the trial was held in Britain and not in Ireland as was requested.
We also want to know why the Irish State did not send a legal observer to attend at the trial.
We are thankful for the courtesy and kindness of strangers that we have received since coming here.
We thank Queen's Counsel Michael Birnbaum and his legal team; the British police, particularly Det Insp Dave Flood, Det Sgt Steve Blickett and Det Constable Andrew Partner. Also Geraldine Hanna of the British Witness Service.
We also wish to thank the Irish gardaí - in particular Supt Tom Mulligan, Insp Peter O'Boyle, Garda Ann Ellis and all the gardaí at Crumlin station for their good work.
We are grateful to Liz McManus TD and Amanda Bane of the Irish Embassy, and to the witnesses who came here to give evidence, many of whom had to travel from Ireland.
We are especially grateful to Georgina's friends for the friendship and the care they have shown towards her.
In particular we wish to thank our family and our friends who have given us so much support since Georgina's murder.
We wish to thank those of you in the media who reported on this court case in a respectful and truthful manner. We want to acknowledge The Irish Times newspaper in particular, for their daily attendance at the court.
As a family we are heartbroken and our lives have changed dramatically.
It is still hard to believe that Georgina is gone but her beautiful spirit is keeping us going.
Most of all we want to thank Georgina who gave us 28 years of her loving and gentle presence. For us, she really was an angel.