Sentencing Alexander Pacteau to a minimum of 23 years in prison, Judge Lady Rae said she found it difficult to find the words to describe his dreadful crime.
Pacteau pleaded guilty last month to murdering Cork student Karen Buckley who had been on a night out with friends in Glasgow.
Ms Buckley moved to Scotland to study for a masters degree in occupational health therapy at Glasgow Caledonian University and was described as an outgoing woman whose life revolved around her family and friends.
In the early hours of 12 April, Pacteau met Ms Buckley outside the Sanctuary nightclub and drove her to nearby Kelvin Way, where he killed her.
Lady Rae said Pacteau's actions in the days after he had murdered Ms Buckley "succeeded only in adding even more pain and suffering onto the Buckley family".
In the sentencing hearing at Glasgow High Court, the judge said Pacteau only expressed remorse when he first pleaded guilty and that "from a perusal of the criminal justice social work report, it is apparent that in the course of your lengthy interviews with the social worker, at no time did you ever demonstrate or express any regret for what you had done".
She said his expression of remorse on 11 August might have carried more weight if communicated earlier but she could not ignore Pacteau's conduct after he killed Ms Buckley.
She said Ms Buckley was a young woman in the prime of her life who was a complete stranger to Pacteau, but "for some unknown and inexplicable reason" just minutes after she met him he "destroyed her young life and devastated a family."
Lady Rae said that Pacteau was not satisfied with killing Ms Buckley "so brutally" but also went "to extraordinary lengths over several days" to cover up his actions and destroy her body.
"I question how any one doing all of what you did over several days can seriously suggest to this court that he did so in a panic."
Pacteau sentenced to 23 years for Karen's murder
In Quotes - Karen Buckley Investigation
Timeline: The Karen Buckley murder case
Pacteau pleads guilty to Karen Buckley murder
Pacteau initially claimed to detectives, who identified him from CCTV footage, that he and Ms Buckley had consensual sex at his flat and she had fallen and injured herself on the bed frame.
His solicitor John Scullion QC said he could offer no "rational explanation" for his actions.
Lady Rae said she took into account what was said by Pacteau's senior counsel in mitigation and his relative youth as well as his guilty plea, which avoided the necessity of a trial.
"But in respect of the murder charge there is only one sentence I can impose and that is life imprisonment."
She handed down a sentence of 23 years backdated to 17 April, when Pacteau was first remanded in custody.
The judge said Pacteau will not be eligible for parole or release "until the whole or the punishment part has expired."
The "punishment part" is the minimum period of time to be served in prison to "satisfy the requirements of retribution and deterrence".
