A former nurse must serve a 25-year non-parole period for fatally stabbing Toyah Cordingley, seven years after her body was discovered on an isolated beach.

Rajwinder Singh, 41, was on Tuesday given a life sentence a day after being found guilty of murder in Cairns’ Supreme Court following a four-week retrial.

Singh, 41, repeatedly stabbed Cordingley and slashed her throat at a far-north Queensland beach in October 2018 before fleeing to India, spending years in hiding.

The body of Cordingley, 24, was discovered by her father half-buried in sand dunes at Wangetti Beach, north of Cairns, a day after she failed to return from walking her dog.

A jury reached a guilty verdict on Monday after about seven hours of deliberating.

Singh’s first trial ended in a hung jury eight months ago.

Cordingley had taken her dog to Wangetti Beach on October 21, 2018.

Her family raised the alarm when she didn’t return. Her father made the grisly discovery the next morning, about 80 metres from her car.

Police alleged Cordingley had died after “a personal and intimate attack”.

Soon after her body was found, Singh, a nurse from Innisfail about an hour’s drive south of Cairns, departed Australia.

He boarded a flight to India, the country of his birth, leaving behind his wife and three children.

Queensland Police offered a record $1 million reward in late 2022 for information leading to the location and arrest of runaway suspect Singh.

Weeks later, Singh was arrested in New Delhi. He was extradited to Australia and charged with murder in March 2023.

Queensland Police later confirmed the $1 million reward had been paid to several people.

-AAP