A killer who raped and murdered a 15-year-old girl in Leicestershire in 2015 has died while serving a life sentence.

Landscape gardener Stephen Beadman was jailed for life with a minimum term of 35 years in 2016 after pleading guilty to murdering Kayleigh Haywood.

A Prison Service spokesman confirmed the death of 34-year-old Beadman, who was being held at HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire.

Beadman died on Thursday, but the cause of his death has not been confirmed.

The then 29-year-old was also found guilty of falsely imprisoning Kayleigh, along with online groomer Luke Harlow, his 28-year-old neighbour, who was jailed for 12 years.

The body of Kayleigh, from Measham, was found three days after her death, hidden in a hedgerow near a stream, after a police search involving more than 300 officers.

The teenager had been lured to Harlow’s flat in George Avenue, Ibstock, before she was attacked by Beadman.

When both men were jailed in July 2016, the judge described Facebook, WhatsApp and text messages sent by Harlow to Kayleigh and other girls as “chilling”.

During the hearing, Harlow’s barrister described Beadman, whose computers contained child abuse images and extreme pornography, as “the monster that lived next door”.

A Prison Service spokesman said: “HMP Wakefield prisoner Stephen Beadman died in hospital on April 8. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has been informed.”