PRIVATE investigator Stuart Hulse started a life sentence on Wednesday for raping and strangling a Lowton college student.

Hulse, a father-of-two, attacked divorcee Shirley Brown after watching a hard-core pornographic video showing a woman being tied up and sexually abused.

In a chilling re-enactment of the 18 minute long film, Hulse later bound and gagged his victim, raped her and strangled her with her own tights, police believe. His motive for the brutal murder, say police, was frustration at not getting sex at a drinking party where the film was shown.

Hulse dramatically changed his plea from not guilty to guilty of murdering Mrs Brown in summer 1996.

The case was then adjourned last Friday until yesterday for his defence lawyers to take further instruction from Hulse before he is jailed for life.

Hulse, 37, was one of 11 guests at the party, and after the film was shown couples paired off and went into different bedrooms, leaving Hulse on his own.

When he could not find a partner, Hulse left in a taxi, and within hours had attacked and murdered 46 years-old Mrs Brown, who was studying for her English literature A level at Leigh College.

Mrs Brown - a "thoroughly decent and respectable woman" - was alone at her home in Allerby Way, Lowton, because her 10 year-old son Richard was spending the weekend with his father David.

Her partially clothed body, wrapped in a duvet, was discovered the next day when David was dropped off at home by his father, and alerted neighbours because he could not find his mother.

Detectives interviewed Hulse during the inquiry, and he denied knowing Mrs Brown. He admitted being at the party where the video was shown but then claimed he went straight home and fell asleep.

A blood sample was taken from Hulse of nearby Slag Lane, Lowton, for DNA screening, but before the results were known, Hulse, a married man with two young sons, changed his story.

He still denied being the killer but on Friday he changed his plea to guilty.

Mrs Brown was attacked in her semi-detached bungalow within hours of returning home from a friend's house, where they had been watching videos of Shakespeare's Othello for an English exam.

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