School killer Kayleigh Haywood dies while serving life sentence

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 Beadman, 34, who was being held at HMP Wakefield in West Yorkshire.

Beadman died 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 carer Luke Harlow, his 28-year-old neighbour, who was jailed for 12 years of prison.

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

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

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

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

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

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