PHUKET: The Norwegian expat who kept the body of his former lover in a green wheelie bin in his Phuket mansion for years was sentenced today to nine years in jail.

Stein Havard Dokset, 52, who has already served three years, will be free in 2021.

The body-in-the-bin case fascinated the expat community on Phuket when the remains of Dokset's former lover, Rungnapa ''June'' Ratchasombut, were found in 2012.

She had disappeared in 2009. Only through the efforts of her family did police renew their investigation and raid Dokset's mansion in Kata.

Dokset moved the wheelie bin from room to room and kept the rooms locked while the wheelie bin was in there, which failed to raise the suspicions of his maid or a live-in lover.

After forensic police established that the remains belonged to Khun June, Dokset was virtually certain to be found guilty.

He confessed to Killing Khun June, but said that he only struck her after she struck him. She died after hitting a wall, he said.

Today the judge gave him 15 years, but cut the sentence to nine years because Dokset had cooperated with the investigation and with the court.

At a previous civil hearing, it was established that Dokset would pay 1.8 million baht to help raise Khun June's three children once the mansion is sold.

Khun June's family said Dokset was a kindly man who may have made one mistake on the spur of the moment.

'People who know me know that I am not a bad man,'' he told a Phuketwan reporter at an earlier hearing.

Coincidentally, today's verdict date marked the anniversary of the day back in 2003 when he arrived on Phuket and was invited to Khun June's birthday party.

The pair found they had an instant rapport and later moved in together. The pair ran a property business.

At the time of her death, though, Khun June was living with a policeman - the reason why Dokset decided to hide her body rather than explain what had happened.

Stein Dokset talked for more than four hours with Phuketwan editor Alan Morison in April last year when Dokset faced a Phuket court hearing about another matter unassociated with the killing and Morison was being held in the court cells during the hearing of a bail application.

Morison said later that he found Dokset to be a man of strong character - a necessary requirement in living inside Phuket Prison, where the number of inmates has swollen beyond 3000.

''Dokset's main concern was his health,'' Morison recalled today.

''It's difficult to get proper treatment on the inside and so he was most keen to make sure he had access to medicines.

''A number of unusual skin eruptions on his legs were also causing him concern.

''He told me how difficult life was as an inmate. Only those prisoners who were able to supplement the prison fare with bought-in food were able to put on weight.

''Dokset also described how difficult it is at night when there isn't space on the floor for everyone to lie on their backs.

''Everyone must lie on their side to fit. When one person turns over, everybody has to turn over.

''Dokset was hoping that by the time the verdict in his case was given, he would have already served an appropriate sentence.

''He believed he would be found guilty of causing accidental death, not murder. That proved to be the case.

''I found him quite engaging. Before he was arrested, he was an avid reader of Phuketwan and commented every so often.''