Tributes have been paid to Hannah Bladon, the 20-year-old British student who was murdered in Jerusalem on Friday.

The Birmingham University theology and archaeology student, who was on an exchange programme in Israel at the Hebrew University this year, was stabbed in an attack on Jerusalem’s light railway in which two other people were lightly wounded.

One of her tutors in Israel, Rona Evyasaf, wrote on Facebook, wrote, “At the littletime we had, I found her to be very serious about her studies and very excited about archaeology (she wanted to go on a dig before she goes back home). This is breaking my heart).”

In a statement released by the Foreign Office, Ms Bladon’s family in Burton-on-Trent said they were “devastated by this senseless and tragic attack”.

Hannah was “the most caring, sensitive and compassionate daughter you could ever wish for”, they said. She was “a talented musician, part of a serving team a her local church and a member of her local archaeology group.”

Their daughter had been taking part in an archaeological dig on the day she was killed.

The Hebrew University and the Rothberg International School, where she had been enrolled, expressed their “deep sorrow” over her death.

The university condemned “such acts of terror that harm innocent people, and especially a student who came to Jerusalem to study and widen her academic horizons”.

The Bishop of Lichfield, the Right Reverend Dr Michael Ipgrave – who chairs the Council of Christians and Jews – said he had asked for prayers to be recited for Ms Bladon at St George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem.

A 57-year old  Palestinian man apprehended after the attack had recently been released from psychiatric hospital, according to Israeli police.