A FORMER prison officer who murdered a friend and then hid her body in a forest has been jailed for a minimum 20 years.

Ross Willox, 41, killed Emma Faulds, 39, at his home in Monkton, Ayrshire, on April 28 2019.

Emma was then reported missing by her parents Margaret and Ian two days later when she failed to turn up for work.

READ MORE: Family of Emma Faulds 'devastated' after Ross Willox found guilty of her murder

After the killing, Willox drove the youth worker's corpse in the boot of a car before dumping the naked remains at the end of a remote track in Glentrool Forest, Dumfries and Galloway.

It was weeks after he was charged that Emma’s badly decomposed corpse was uncovered via the help of a world-renowned soil expert.

Willox today returned to the High Court in Glasgow having been found guilty of murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice last month.

Lord Mulholland jailed him for life and ordered him to serve at least 20 years behind bars.

The judge said Willox had carried out the killing and was then "not as clever as he thought he was" by trying to cover up the crime.

Willox was sentenced to a concurrent six years for dumping the body.

READ MORE: Former prison officer accused of Emma Faulds murder bail bid rejected

Emma had gone to Willox’s home in Fairfield Park, Monkton for drinks on the night of the killing.

The pair had known each other from when they worked together at Kilmarnock prison.

It is at the house prosecutors stated Emma was then murdered by means unknown in the early hours.

On April 30, her parents were visiting relatives in Brighton when her mum got a call from Emma employers at the Kibble Education Centre in Paisley that she had not turned up for work.

Margaret told jurors: "We were concerned because it was totally out of character. She was in touch every day. We knew something was wrong."

Police eventually forced their way into Emma's home in Kilmarnock that day finding only her beloved Westie dog Maverick unusually alone.

A huge nationwide appeal was launched to try and find her.

Her younger sister Miriam had flown back from her nursing job in Abu Dhabi to join the desperate hunt.

The 34 year-old was asked during the trial by prosecutor Paul Kearney if Willox helped in any of the searches.

She replied: "Never. I thought that was strange. Why would he not be trying to find her?"

On May 6 2019, detectives announced they had fears Emma had come to harm.

Four days later, Willox appeared in court charged with her murder - even though, at that time, no body had been found.

He appeared in the dock despite the "extreme lengths" he had gone to in a bid to cover up the crime.

But, Mr Kearney told jurors "good police work" uncovered "a trail of evidence" pointing to his guilt.

This included Willox's Mercedes SUV being spotted on CCTV the day after the killing heading towards the area where Emma's body was eventually discovered.

His DNA was also discovered on a lever in Emma's BMW 1 series - described by a friend as appearing "abandoned" at her home.

Police also discovered Willox had bought four bottles of bleach and rubber gloves at a local bargain store after the killing.

A Jaguar car driven by Willox was also examined by a police dog trained in the scent of dead bodies.

The dog Max gave a "positive indication" by barking at the boot area of the vehicle.

Willox had also made searches of a friend's iPad including for "can police track your car' and for "blood".

Jurors were played Willox's police interview after he was held.

He denied Emma had been "lying dead" in his home.

He insisted the pair had been at his house before going to Emma's where she wanted to "continue partying".

After he then returned to Monkton, Willox said time became "non-existent" and he only knew there was concern about Emma when her sister Sarah phoned him.

The callous killer admitted he did not take part in any search for Emma.

He insisted the bottles of bleach were used to clean his decking and not wipe away any evidence of a crime.

Police called in the help of Professor Lorna Dawson CBE during Operation Solzen and the search of the 700sq/m Galloway Forest area, where Emma's body was suspected to be.

The soil expert was asked to examine a number of items including Timberland boots worn by Willox.

Prof Dawson made her findings on June 11 - just 24 hours later Emma's naked remains were found hidden in an area of Glentrool Forest someone "would not normally walk through".

There was a 92 % soil match from the boots compared to the earth which covered Emma's body.

The court was told Willox had knowledge of the area from his work as a wind farm project manager.

But, he told police any other sighting of him in the area would have been to walk his dogs.

Mobile phone analysis also put him in and around the location.

Jurors were told Emma's body was so badly decomposed, a pathologist could not state what caused her death although she had an apparent injury on her neck.

Willox had denied murder during the trial.

His QC today said the friends were "young people from good family backgrounds".

Donald Findlay, defending, added: "By 5-6am (that morning) the Crown contention is Emma Faulds is dead.

"Something catastrophic must have happened.

"What was a perfectly ordinary relationship, nothing sinister, was OK at 1am and then one of the two is dead by 5am.

"He is not the kind of person, given his background, to be found guilty of murder...of someone that he cared for."