Father tells of his grief over the 'lovely and unique' girl murdered in New Zealand

Brian Aim said the family would not believe the 26-year-old was dead until her body is brought home.

He said: "Karen was the most wonderful girl, unique and lovely. She was a ray of sunshine. I can still hear her chuckly laugh. She lit up every room she went into."

Mr Aim, 51, told of the last time he and wife Peggy saw his daughter, dropping her off at an airport last October to begin a year of adventure.

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"When we said goodbye I never thought that would be the last time we would see our beautiful girl again. It is still too hard to take in. There have been so many tears."

Mr Aim, of Holm, near Kirkwall in Orkney, spoke after a post-mortem examination confirmed that Karen died of severe head injuries inflicted by a weapon.

She was found on the outskirts of the lakeside resort town of Taupo by police responding to a security alert at a school early on Thursday.

She was able to whisper her name to officers but died shortly after arrival at hospital.

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Mr Aim said the police woke him at 4.30am on Thursday to break the news. He said: "It's all still like a bad dream.

"I thought I would find my son Alan locked out after a night out – instead it was the police there to tell me Karen had been murdered."

Mr Aim intends to lay his daughter to rest in a graveyard near the family home. It will be a new plot as she is outlived by grandparents and other older relatives.

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But first he has to wait for the New Zealand authorities to release the body.

Mr Aim has decided not to accompany his daughter's body home – instead allowing a close friend to make the emotional journey.

There are also plans for a memorial service in Taupo, which has been stunned by the murder.

On Friday police trawled Taupo's bars, including the three Karen was known to have visited in the hours before her death.

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They are now convinced the weapon used to bludgeon her to death was the same one used to smash 18 windows in the science block of the school.

One theory is that Karen may have seen the culprits, who then panicked and attacked her just 50 yards from the flat she shared with two friends.

Large parts of the school have been taped off as a crime scene with security guards on 24-hour watch.