A former police officer from Jamaica was found guilty Thursday of murdering his pregnant girlfriend and was immediately sentenced to life in prison, the Sun-Sentinel reported yesterday.

According to the newspaper, a Palm Beach County jury deliberated two hours before returning the verdict, finding Marlon Monroe guilty of premeditated first-degree murder. Monroe, 33, had no reaction as the verdict was read.

Rather than be rejected by the woman carrying his unborn child, Monroe beat and strangled Marvia Kinlocke, then left her body inside her BMW motorcar on the side of a road west of Boynton Beach, Assistant State Attorney Angela Miller told jurors during her closing arguments Thursday.

Coral Springs resident Aneita Clarke, Kinlocke’s aunt, was relieved by the swift verdict, said the Sun-Sentinel.

“We are very, very happy that the justice system worked,” the newspaper quoted Clarke.

Earlier Thursday, Miller outlined the state’s case against Monroe, pointing to Monroe’s DNA and a confession to a pastor.

Kinlocke, a 34-year-old nurse who lived in Lauderhill, was about to leave Monroe, but he wouldn’t let her, Miller said.

“He was mean, he was violent, and she rightfully wanted him gone,” Miller said.

Monroe, also of Lauderhill, was arrested three weeks after the January 2006 slaying of Kinlocke, who was three months pregnant. A passer-by found Kinlocke in her car on the side of Hagen Ranch Road, according to the newspaper report.

Her face had been beaten and she had been strangled.

In the days after Monroe had reported his girlfriend missing to Lauderhill authorities and detectives in Palm Beach County had begun their investigation, Monroe told details of his crime to his pastor, Miller said.

He told the pastor that he had punched Kinlocke several times, then strangled her because he knew she would call police if he didn’t kill her, Miller said. To ‘make it right’, Monroe planned to turn himself in. But he instead decided to get an attorney, Miller said.

Monroe’s DNA was found on Kinlocke’s neck, left wrist, hands and fingernails, Miller added.