A Pembrokeshire man has been given a double life sentence after confessing to killing his former girlfriend and her daughter.

Mark Nicholas, aged 30, formerly of Pembroke, showed little emotion as he was sent to the cells at the Old Bailey last Tuesday after being told he must serve a minimum of 30 years.

Nicholas stabbed Nicole Batten, 33, in the chest before suffocating her daughter, Ukleigha Batten-Froggatt, at a flat in London in February 2005.

After the killings, Nicholas is reported to have taken money from Ms Batten's bank account to buy crack cocaine and heroin and a second hand car in which he planned to drive to Wales.

Nicholas was arrested after a two-week manhunt when a friend he was staying with turned him in.

Detectives had found the two bodies in the flat after Ukleigha failed to turn up to school for a week.

Friends and relatives of the victims have told how they felt numb after coming face-to-face with their killer in court.

Outside court, Dawn Harrison, Ms Batten's mother, said: "While they may be gone, they will never be forgotten. We feel lucky for them to have been part of our lives."

Commenting on Nicholas's sentence, she said: "I would have liked it to be more but at least we know that he won't be coming out for 30 years. I hope he finds a way to think about what he has done."

Judge David Paget QC described Ukleigha as "wholly innocent".

"She had simply witnessed the horror of Nicholas murdering her mother and the killer decided she therefore had to die", he said.

Judge Paget told the court Nicholas might end up in Broadmoor for psychological tests. Leading psychiatrist Dr Nigel Eastman said Nicholas had a severe personality disorder and was a public danger - especially to women.

Nicholas has a series of past convictions and had been previously jailed for wounding and robbery.