Thirteen years after a young model's body was found at the bottom of a 180 foot cliff in Sydney, her British boyfriend has been convicted of her murder.

Caroline Byrne's family wept with relief as the New South Wales Supreme Court found Gordon Wood, 45, guilty of throwing his lover to her death off Sydney's notorious suicide spot, The Gap.

The conviction has ended years of speculation about the death of the 24-year-old model, whose body was found wedged head first into rocks at the base of the sheef cliff-face in June, 1995.

The jury found that Mr Wood, the former chauffeur to Australia's most well-known stockbroker, had killed his lover because he was worried she would leave him and reveal damaging details about his employer.

The 13 year long case involved allegations of corporate fraud against Rene Rivkin, a flamboyant stockbroker, an international police hunt and a five year investigation culminating in two trials.

Throughout the high profile trial, at which some of Sydney's biggest names in business, politics and show business gave evidence, Mr Wood maintained that his lover was suffering from depression, and had killed herself.

But a string of witnesses told the court that Mr Wood was terrified Ms Byrne was planning to leave him and make public damaging information about the personal and business life of his boss, Mr Rivkin. Mr Rivkin killed himself in 2005 after being found guilty of insider dealing.

One theory was that the young model died because of what she knew about a fire on Christmas Eve, in 1993, at a printing business part-owned by Mr Rivkin.

Mr Wood had been encouraging friends to buy shares in the company, telling them the price was going to rise.The blaze led to a $51 million (£21 million) insurance payout that led to the shares soaring in value.

A police investigation into the fire found no evidence of arson.

During the trial, Mr Wood denied allegations that he and Mr Rivkin were lovers.

Witnesses told the court that on the afternoon she died, Ms Byrne was seen in tears as Mr Wood screamed abuse at her.

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