IT was a simple act of savage violence. Young mother Farah Noor Adams was battered, raped and strangled by a youth with murder in mind.

Thomas Waddell, 19, subjected the 34-year-old voluntary worker to a horrific 30-minute ordeal when he attacked her as she powerwalked along the banks of the River Kelvin in Glasgow.

Ms Adams, who had just dropped her eight-year-old daughter Leila off at school, was helpless. No-one responded to a series of 999 calls she made on her mobile shortly before her killer pounced. Noone heard her anguished screams during the attack.

Waddell grabbed her by the throat, dragged her to a secluded spot and hit her repeatedly about the face with a brick. Then he raped her. Twice.

As she lay bleeding, he forced her down to the water's edge and ordered her to wash. After smacking her again with a brick, he strangled her.

There were no witnesses to the crime. Waddell was caught by police after DNA samples from his victim's clothing were found to match his.

The killer was a problem teenager with learning difficulties and a history of absconding from home as a teenager.

David Miller, a friend and former colleague at the 24hour car wash on Maryhill Road, said: "He just kept himself to himself, he used to get bullied and that at school."

On the morning of the attack he had finished a night shift and boarded a bus home, but fell asleep and missed his stop, ending up in Bearsden.

He took the bus back into Glasgow and disembarked three-quarters of a mile from where he attacked Ms Adams.

The driver remembers him approaching young women on the bus and making inappropriate sexual comments.

As Ms Adams dropped off Leila at St Charles's primary in the west end of Glasgow and returned to her home in Colebrooke Street, various people spotted Waddell in an agitated state on the river walkway.

Ms Adams was aware that she was being followed, but her attempts to contact the emergency services failed.

After the attack, there had been speculation Ms Adams, who worked with the Citizens Advice Bureau in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow, might have been the victim of a raciallymotivated attack.

Police also looked into the possibility that she could have known her killer.

In the end, like so many victims of violence, she died because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even hardened police officers were shocked by the extent of the injuries inflicted upon her.

She was a popular young mother, a divorcee with a passion for fighting the cause of others. A well-known figure in the west end of Glasgow, she volunteered on various youth and community projects in her spare time.

Born in Manchester, Ms Adams, from a family of nine brothers and sisters, grew up in Glasgow and was educated at Bellahouston Academy.

Her father, Haji, is a respected member of Glasgow's Muslim community and works at the city's Central Mosque.

Friends believed her "sense of justice and injustice" was tuned through personal problems she had faced in the past.

She is understood to have changed her name after her former husband was jailed for 19 months at Glasgow High Court five years ago. He had pled guilty to three assault charges relating to two attacks on her at her former flat in Clifford Street, Glasgow.

She became a volunteer with the Glasgow Anti-Racist Alliance, helping start the Woodlands Youth Initiative three years ago. It provides a drop-in advice service and organises activities.

One close friend said: "Helping people was not just what she did for a job, she took it with her wherever she went. She was never off duty.

"She has helped so many Asians with problems, even getting involved in matters such as bullying where she could be at risk. She never really gave it a thought, such was her drive."

Ms Adams worked with young women from ethnic minority backgrounds, before joining the CAB last May. She tackled everything from racism and bullying, to school and family issues. Catherine Bradley, bureau manager, said: "She was a very driven and committed individual."

John Paul Fitzpatrick, youth services manager with the Woodlands project, said: "She had a fervent belief in equality, was a very strong character and she would exhaust me with the amount of energy she had. She was enthusiastic, hard working and just a very lovely girl.

"It was a great shock to hear what happened and I am sure everyone she was involved with feels a profound sense of grief and loss."

Her brother Mohammed Shaheed, 39, said: "We are hoping the sentence will reflect the seriousness of this horrendous crime against an innocent person who had done no wrong to him.

"We have lost a sister, my mother and father have lost a daughter, and Leila has lost her mother. This has been very distressing and shocking for Leila but she has help and support from all her family."

Although Waddell, of Shiskine Drive, Maryhill, has learning difficulties, his defence advocate Donald Findlay, QC, told the court a background report from the State Hospital in Carstairs revealed there was nothing in his mental state to diminish his responsibility for the crimes.