Little more than a week before Clive Carter bludgeoned Khanokporn Satjawat to death in the toilets of Glasgow's SECC, the security guard had terrified a woman in a city hotel.

It was, a leading women's campaigner said, an "opportunity missed".

Thirty-five-year-old Carter, of Motherwell, a wife-beater, had a habit of getting in a rage when women contradicted him.

He killed Ms Satjawat with a fire extinguisher on November 13 last year. He scared 23-year-old Stephanie O'Brien with another extinguisher on the 4th of the same month. Yesterday he was convicted of both crimes.

Ms O'Brien told the High Court in Glasgow she had tried to tell staff at her hotel - The Holiday Inn Express in Glasgow's Stockwell Street - what had happened.

But she said she was made to feel "really silly" when she did so. She made no formal complaint.

Nobody called the police after Ms O'Brien raised her concerns. Nobody alerted G4S, Carter's employers.

Nobody told the Security Industry Authority, which would have had powers to suspend his licence if he was under investigation.

Instead he was on duty at the SECC eight days later to kill Ms Satjawat.

Only when police began investigating the murder of the Thai delegate at a HIV conference did they discover what had happened at the Holiday Inn. Only then was his guard's licence suspended by the SIA.

Jan MacLeod, of the Scottish Women's Project, said the incident showed just how important it was to heed women who report upsetting encounters. She said: "It is disappointing that this opportunity was missed.

"People should learn to listen and be empowered to listen to women who are upset - they will usually have a good reason for being so."

Heather Coady, of Scottish Women's Aid, said: "Dismissing a woman's account of a fearful and dangerous situation and writing it off as exaggerated, hysterical or vindictive is seriously misguided and can have horrific consequences, as borne out by this case.

"Such training should be standard practice for hotel staff and be underpinned by workplace policies that staff can refer to where they are witness to or aware of any threatening behaviour or assaults experienced by female customers.

"They should be equipped to deal sensitively and appropriately with fears and concerns that may be expressed by their customers.

"If this is not in place then it's hard to see how hotels can be safe places for women."

The hotel incident began when Ms O'Brien called the hotel's reception desk to ask for help with a zip on her skirt which had jammed.

Carter - who was on a shift as security guard - was asked to help and broke the zip.

Ms O'Brien, from Millom, in Cumbria, was in Glasgow with friends. They went out for the evening, leaving her alone.

Carter then knocked on her door, holding a fire extinguisher. When Ms O'Brien answered, he claimed there was a fire in her room.

She told the High Court: "I froze at the door, terrified. I thought, 'I need to get out of this room and not turn my back on him'."

She said she thought he would hit her with the fire extinguisher if she did.

"I could hear him talking to himself. I could hear him saying things like 'so you have not gone out with your friends' and he also said something about my skirt but I can't remember what'."

"He came towards me, and I ran back in to the room. I ran past him and locked the door."

She told the court she then phoned her friends, who came back to the hotel.

They all sat in the bar of the hotel after getting a takeaway. Carter was there, too.

It was then she raised concerns with staff and was made to feel "really silly".

A spokesman for G4S, Carter's employers, said: "I can confirm that the Holiday Inn Express incident was not reported to us."

Holiday Inn Express on Stockwell Street is owned by the Somerston group and operated under a franchise by the Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG). The Evening Times asked IHG whether it accepted Ms O'Brien's version of events.

We also asked if it had taken any disciplinary or training action after the incident was brought to light.

A spokeswoman said: "We have no evidence to suggest that hotel staff behaved other than in an entirely appropriate way in response to the facts.

"While IHG works closely with our owners to ensure procedures and practices are in place to safeguard and protect guests, IHG does not employ the staff at the hotel nor its contractors."

In an earlier statement, the firm said: "We can confirm that Clive Carter was contracted through G4S to work at the Holiday Inn Express City Centre in Glasgow.

"He worked five shifts at the hotel.

"We take the safety of our guests very seriously and have co-operated fully with the police investigations."

Police later found a picture of a fire extinguisher on Carter's computer.

SECURITY guard Clive Carter was today starting a life sentence for the brutal murder of a conference delegate.

Carter, a father-of-three, was sentenced by judge Lord Matthews and told he must serve a minimum of 20 years before being eligible for parole.

The 35-year-old, from

Mother-well, North Lanarkshire, smashed 42-year-old Khanokporn Satjawat repeatedly over the head and face with a fire extinguisher in

a rage because she complained about him checking her

security pass.

Every bone on the left side of her face and neck was broken and her skull was shattered. She died from blunt force trauma.

Miss Satjawat also had defensive injuries to her left hand caused by trying to fend off blows from Carter.

Her watch was found beside her bloodied body. It was smashed and had stopped at a couple of minutes past 2pm.

The defenceless delegate was killed by the man prosecutor John Scullion described as "being paid to ensure she

was safe".

Carter admitted killing Miss Satjawat, but denied murder, claiming he had no memory of the incident.

He said his next memory

was of eating sandwiches for

his lunch.

Jailing Carter, Lord Matthews said: "Khanokporn Satjawat was a hard-working, well-educated and dedicated lady who came to this country to participate in a conference whose purpose was the alleviation of suffering and the saving of lives.

"It is cruelly ironic that in the course of such an event the life of that fragile lady should be taken in such a brutal fashion with an instrument whose primary purpose is also the saving of life and at the hands

of a man to whom she should have been able to look for assistance."

Lord Matthews told Carter: "You are plainly, on the evidence, a man who is disturbed."

Lord Matthews told Carter it was up to the parole board to decide when, if ever he is released.

Detective Superintendent John McDonald, of Police Scotland, said: "This was a particularly brutal and senseless attack at the SECC last November.

"We sincerely hope that this verdict will bring some comfort to the relatives of Miss Satjawat."