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PICTURED: Shohfah-El Israel (Photo credit: Hertfordshire Police)

A MAN has been jailed for 17 years after murdering a student midwife who went to his church.
Shohfah-El Israel, 40, was convicted by a jury at Reading Crown Court for killing 20-year-old Joy Morgan.

Morgan was last scene on December 26 at a church event in Ilford, east London. Leaflets of the missing student were plastered across Newham in a bid to find her.

However, her body has yet to be found and Israel has not admitted where he placed her remains.
According to BBC, Judge Michael Soole said Israel’s "cruel and cowardly" refusal to reveal her whereabouts caused "continuing distress and suffering" to her family.

Sentencing Israel to life with a minimum of 17 years, the judge said: "Only you know the circumstances of your terrible deed and why you did it.

"You are evidently an intelligent man and have said nothing beyond the lies and the explanations which the jury has rejected."

Morgan’s mother pleaded outside the court for Israel to “bring my baby back.”

VICTIM: Joy Morgan (Photo credit: Hertfordshire Police)

“The way I understand it he was besotted with her. If he loved her, give her back up to us so I can bury my daughter. If I get to see her before I die I’ll be very grateful.”

The court heard Israel spent time alone with Morgan in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, breaching church rules which banned women from being with men other than their husbands.

He initially told police he dropped Morgan off at her student accomodation in Hatfield after a celebratory dinner at the church but later admitted she had spent two nights at his flat in Cricklewood, north-west London.

A signal from Morgan’s phone was detected in Israel’s car on December 28, where he was "most likely looking for somewhere to dispose of the body,'' prosecutors told the jury.

Both Israel and Morgan were worshippers at the Israel United in Christ Church in Ilford. Although she had been missing for six weeks, no one from Morgan’s church - where she was last seen - reported her missing.

Her mum, Carol, discovered she had disappeared after she received a call from her daughter’s estate agents saying that she had not paid her rent.

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