The family of Joanna Yeates have welcomed Vincent Tabak's murder conviction, although they expressed their "regret" he could not be sentenced to death.
In a statement read by police outside court David and Teresa Yeates said they said they would never get over their loss.
"For us, it is with regret that capital punishment is not a possible option for (Tabak's) sentence," they said.
"The best we can hope for him is that he spends the rest of his life incarcerated where his life is a living hell, being the recipient of all evils, deprivations and degradations that his situation can provide."
Mr and Mrs Yeates said the last four weeks had been "more stressful and intense than we ever imagined".
They had attended Tabak's trial to find out as much as they could about "what really happened" from the time their daughter disappeared to when her murderer was arrested, they went on.
But, they said, they "never considered this trial as a process of justice for Jo".
Their statement went on: "There was never any doubt in our minds that Jo had been murdered and we fully expected (Tabak) to lie when he went into the witness box.
"We came here with little hope or expectation of hearing what happened on December 17 but needed to see him and hear what he had to say first hand.
"We saw no emotion or remorse or regret for what he did to Jo. We felt all emotion expressed by him was false. All we heard were words of self-pity."
They described the trial as having had "little effect on our lives".
They said: "We have still lost our daughter and our son has lost his sister.
"Our main sorrow is that Jo isn't allowed to start her own family, have children and achieve her potential.
"We will never get over our loss, how she was murdered and the total lack of respect with which her body was treated.
"We so miss hearing her happy voice and seeing her living life to the full."
The Yeates's thanked the police for their efforts in apprehending their daughter's killer and the media for "giving us space to try and start coming to terms with our loss".
Earlier Joanna's boyfriend maintained his composure as the jury at Bristol Crown Court delivered its 10-2 majority verdict.
Greg Reardon, 28, had been perched on the edge of his seat in the front row of the public gallery looking at the jury of six men and six women.
Mr and Mrs Yeates had attended almost every day of the trial but decided not to come to court for the verdict.
Other members of the family were there but showed little emotion as the foreman of the jury announced the result of its deliberations.
The 12 men and women of the jury had spent 13 hours and 36 minutes discussing the case.
Tabak, 33, from the Netherlands, had denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
