A paedophile has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for raping and killing a 12-year-old girl.

The Regional Court in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod sentenced Sergei Matyushin, 49, to 24 years in prison for raping and killing 12-year-old schoolgirl Anastasia Guzhvina.

The crime took place on 13th May this year.

Mother Elena Guzhvina called the police when her daughter failed to return home from her school in the small village of Bolshoye Kozino in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (region).

Her naked, stabbed body was found on the banks of a lake in a forested area that evening.

The police scoured CCTV footage and found images of a man on a red bicycle approaching the schoolgirl in a shop and then taking her away.

Cops arrested Matyushin the following day and he confessed during questioning to having lured the girl into the forest before raping her and stabbing her to death with a knife.

He told the officers he could not explain his actions.

Matyushin was known in the village for largely keeping to himself and was said not to have bothered anyone.

However, a village resident named as Alina Ivanova revealed that locals would often see him hanging around the school.

It later turned out Matyushin had spent time behind bars, first in 1992 and then for 10 years in 2006 for raping a minor.

Local resident Andrei, surname not reported, told reporters the police should have been closely monitoring him, but said they barely checked up on him over the years.

Matyushin reportedly showed no emotion when the court’s final decision was read out.

He must serve his sentence in a special-regime penal colony, where he will also receive psychiatric treatment.

The prosecutor’s office, which had requested a life sentence, may appeal the decision.