A teenager who killed her violent boyfriend after suffering appalling abuse has committed suicide exactly a year after being spared jail.

Julia Adamson, 18, knifed alcoholic Robert Kavanagh through the heart as he slept because she feared he would murder her.

A judge freed her on probation after hearing the youngster suffered repeated beatings at his hands and had become mentally ill.

But Julia hanged herself on Wednesday evening from a window at a hospital in Hove where she had recently been sectioned under the Mental Health Act, precisely 12 months to the day that she walked free from court.

Police involved in the case today expressed "regret" at Julia's death.

Julia killed Kavanagh, 30, a petty criminal, with a seven-inch carving knife while in a "psychotic state" in June 1999.

The Liverpudlian had repeatedly denied court orders not to contact her and even broke into her home in Hove to beat her up.

He once tried to throw her under a bus in a rage, in another assault held her face against an electric fire and in a further incident attacked her while she slept and kicked her in the jaw, Lewes Crown Court heard.

When she finally killed him, Julia was on crutches after a further assault said to have caused her to fall down some concrete steps.

Julia, who spent 18 months in custody on remand, admitted manslaughter due to diminished responsibility and was placed on probation for three years with a condition she be assessed at a mental health hospital.

Psychiatrists unanimously agreed she was suffering from an abnormality of mind brought about by her treatment by Kavanagh.

Her father, Edward, 57, and brother, Grant, 29, are thought to be in Portugal where they went after being charged with perverting the course of justice. An attempt by Sussex Police to extradite them failed.

Kavanagh's body was dressed after his death and taken from the scene before being kept chilled and then cut up and dumped in remote countryside.

A £5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the conviction of those who disposed of the body.

Detective Inspector Graham Bartlett, head of the new Brighton and Hove Anti Victimisation Unit (AVU), was involved in the Kavanagh inquiry.

He said: "On those occasions Julia reported incidents of violence, the police initiated thorough investigations and Kavanagh was charged with offences.

"Julia was always treated with the utmost sympathy by police. We very much regret her tragic death."

Mr Bartlett urged all women being abused to contact the AVU on 01273 665502 or 01273 665800.