AN Australian was jailed for life yesterday for the murder of Scots pub landlady Carol Fyfe in London.

There were cheers in the public gallery of the Old Bailey when the jury convicted 28-year-old barman Gregory Mills, who had denied the attack.

Mills had fled to the US. Interpol had traced him there and within hours had put details of his name and photograph on a police computer network.

Soon after, a state trooper in Colorado stopped Mills for speeding with his motor bike. The roadside check revealed Sydney-born Mills was on a ''wanted list'', suspected of involvement in the murder of the Edinburgh-born landlady at the Prince Arthur public house in Euston.

One small hair and a DNA profile had provided the vital clue.

Ms Fyfe, who lived in a flat above the public house where she had been in charge for some time, had been battered with a rolling pin and stabbed in the neck in April last year.

Ms Fyfe's 69-year-old mother said outside the court: ''I'm glad he has got life. She was so good to him. He spent Christmas with us and we gave him Christmas presents and he gave us a red rose each.

''She treated him like a son and she was so good to him.''

The Old Bailey heard that Ms Fyfe, described by the prosecutor, Mr Victor Temple QC, as ''a little battler, a regular Scottish woman'', confronted Mills when she found him in the pub stealing several thousand pounds.

Pulling off his balaclava mask, she fought to prevent him taking the money, some of which she had collected for her elderly customers for a day outing.

Mills, who had no previous convictions, had left the pub 12 days before the murder after working there for 11 months and knew where the safe keys were kept.

Friends and associates later told police they had seen him with a pile of notes soon after the killing and spending large sums of money.

The court heard that Mills contacted the police two days after the murder as a concerned friend and gave a 30-page statement, but it was a calculated act to give himself an alibi.

Ms Fyfe's cousin Robert Knox, one of several close relatives at the trial, said Mills, who arrived in the UK in 1996, had showed no remorse when jailed for life.

Mr Knox said: ''He showed no feeling, just the usual arrogance he had shown throughout the trial.'' He added that Mrs Fyfe was ''broken up'' but delighted with the verdict and would now try to put the ordeal behind her and get on with her life.

''Like her, I am relieved it's all over,'' said Mr Knox, a trade union official, who, with the other members of the family, travelled back to Scotland last night.

Mr Knox said: ''From what I have seen of him he is very cold and callous. It was quite clear from the evidence that he knew exactly what he was going to do. It was premeditated and planned. We all miss Carol terribly.''

The Prince Arthur landlord Brian Cowpe, who used to work with the victim, said: ''There will be celebrations in here tonight. A lot of customers will be very pleased to hear the news as lots had strong feelings for Carol.''

Whitbread Inns managing director, Mr Ted Kennedy, said she had been one of the best landladies he had known. ''We are happy that justice has been done. Her loss will be felt for a long time to come.''

British police, led by Detective Chief Inspector Barry Howe of Scotland Yard, had arrived in the US the day before Mills was stopped for speeding. They had been tipped off he had flown into New York.

Mr Howe, speaking outside the Old Bailey, said the arrest had been down to ''good old fashioned policing''.

''State trooper Corporal Mike Miller pulled him over and did the necessary checks. I would like to congratulate that man.'' He revealed British officers had presented the trooper with a ''certificate of commendation'' from the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. Such awards are mainly given to Scotland Yard officers and one for an American officer is unusual.

Mr Howe described Ms Fyfe as a ''spirited, considerate, popular and bubbly'' woman. He said it had been a huge investigation with more than 600 exhibits and a vast number of people to be eliminated.

''The case is also a triumph for forensic evidence. It is incredible that one tiny hair found in the balaclava was able to link him to the killing by a DNA profile.''

Initial reports had suggested that the Internet had been used to catch Mills, making him the first killer in Britain to be tracked down by the technology, but Interpol in London later denied this.

The mother and stepfather of Mills, who was extradited back to Britain last December, were in court throughout the trial.