Kayleigh Haywood was an ordinary teenage schoolgirl with her whole life in front of her. She enjoyed spending time with friends and was studying for her GCSE exams, determined to be successful.

However, her life was turned upside down after she received a message from a stranger on social media. Luke Harlow, who was 27 at the time, contacted the 15-year-old on Facebook, writing: "Hey, how are you?" Kayleigh replied: "Fine - who are you?" These were the first of over 2,600 messages between the pair over the course of just two weeks. What would follow was nothing short of an horrific ordeal for the teenager, tragically concluding in her brutal death in November 2015.

Harlow, who was an unemployed former media studies student, told Kayleigh, a year 11 student at Ashby School in Leicestershire, everything that teenage girls want to hear. He told her she was beautiful, how much he cared for her and that she was special.

Harlow said in one of the messages: "I wish I could kidnap you for Christmas but I would probably be arrested and sent to prison."

After regular text exchanges, Kayleigh eventually agreed to spend the night with him at his home in Ibstock, North West Leicestershire on Friday, November 13. The teenager, who had told her parents she was staying with a friend, was plied with alcohol before being sexually assaulted.

Harlow contacted his neighbour, Stephen Beadman, and told him he had a "bird" at his house. The 29-year-old arrived at the flat the following day and the pair imprisoned Kayleigh.

By this point, Kayleigh's family were growing increasingly concerned by her whereabouts and she was reported missing. Local police launched a search but were unable to save the teenager from her fate.

On Sunday, November 15 - over 24 hours after arriving at Harlow's flat - Kayleigh was seen fleeing the property. She was naked from the waist down and a neighbour spotted Beadman take across the road in pursuit of her.

He then pinned her to the ground, raped her and marched her around a mile-and-a-half across rough ground before beating her to death with a brick. An inquest later heard that Kayleigh died as a result of head and facial injuries, and her body had to be identified by dental records.

After being killed, her body was left dumped in a field north of Ibstock. Harlow and Beadman were arrested on Monday, November 16 before Kayleigh's body was discovered at around 10pm on Wednesday, December 18.

Over 300 police officers were involved in the search before her body was fully recovered from the undergrowth the following day. Beadman was charged with rape and murder while Harlow was charged with grooming and two counts of having sexual activity with a child.

Beadman was jailed for life with a minimum term of 35 years, making him ineligible for parole until 2025, while Harlow was sentenced to 12 years behind bars. Harlow was also found to have groomed two other teenage girls online.

After being sentenced, the judge told Beadman: "The pain, terror and anguish that would have been suffered by this young girl is truly horrifying to contemplate.

"I am entirely satisfied on the evidence that she would have been acutely distressed and frightened. She must have been absolutely terrified."

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Stephanie Haywood, Kayleigh's mother said: "How do I begin to tell you how I feel. How does a mother explain to someone how her child has been taken away by evil people?

"There is so much anger inside my heart. I am completely destroyed, there's no words to describe in this world how I feel each minute of each day. How could this happen, robbed of my daughter, robbed of my beautiful girl?

"I'll never see her grow into a young lady, into a woman and mother, how cruel can someone be? No sentence will be enough, we cannot get back what we have had taken away, a beautiful young life."

Kayleigh's father Martin Whitby said in his statement: "How do you get through each day, some people ask. The answer is I don't, I just exist from day to day."

Eddie Green, Headteacher at Ashby School, said after Kayleigh's tragic death: "It was with great sadness that we learned yesterday that the disappearance of Kayleigh Haywood is now being treated as a murder enquiry and that a body had been found late last night.

"On behalf of everyone connected with Ashby School, our thoughts are with her family at this difficult time. Kayleigh was a lively and fun-loving girl in her final GCSE year who had started Year 11 with a real determination to be successful. It would appear that this opportunity has sadly been taken away from her.

"Ashby School has a long tradition of being at the heart of our community and the students have an outstanding reputation for overcoming and dealing with adversity. We have no doubt that at this, the most difficult of times, they will show their resolve, resilience and true community spirit in supporting each other through this period.

"However, we know that as the days, weeks and months progress, there may be individuals who find it difficult to come to terms with events and with their grief. As a school, we will have mechanisms in place to provide a level of support that may be required to help those students."