A FOREIGN student who murdered his Fylde girlfriend and dumped her body under the floorboards of her flat has been allowed to start a new life in his native country.

New Zealander John Tanner, was 22-years-old when he was jailed for life at Birmingham Crown Court for the murder of his girlfriend, Rachel McLean, 19, in 1991.

Rachel, an Oxford University student from Arundel Drive in Poulton, disappeared from Oxford's main railway station on April 15 that year.

At that time Tanner, who was himself studying at Nottingham University, helped the search for his missing girlfriend by staging an emotional appeal through the media.

But a month later admitted strangling Rachel in a fit of jealousy after he claimed she tried to end their relationship and had been unfaithful to him.

Police found her body hidden under floorboards of her student flat.

Tanner was reported as telling police: "I flew at her in a rage and proceeded to put my hands around her neck.

"I think I must have lost control, because I have only a vague recollection of the time that elapsed afterwards.

"I am bewildered why I have done such a terrible thing to a person I love dearly."

After serving almost 12 years of his sentence for the killing Tanner has been released, on licence, from HMP Gartree in Leicestershire.

Under the terms of his licence, he is permitted to live in New Zealand and arrived back in his hometown of Wanganui, on the country's North Island, around June this year.

It has been reported in the New Zealand press that the 34-year-old may be living close to his father, Bill, and could be in contact with an English woman he met while in prison.

Rachel's parents -- Joan and Malcolm -- have declined to comment on Tanners release, but are believed to have been kept informed of the decision by the Home Office.