A convicted sex offender has been sentenced to death for kidnapping and raping a nine-year-old girl before swaddling her in rubbish bags and burying her alive in his Florida garden.

A convicted sex offender was sentenced to death today for kidnapping and raping a nine-year-old girl before swaddling her in garbage bags and burying her alive in his Florida yard – crimes that led many states to enact new laws cracking down on convicted sex offenders.

US POLICE at Lake Worth in Florida won a race against time when an officer found a missing eight-year-old girl buried under rocks inside a bin, authorities said.

A nine-year-old girl was raped, bound and buried alive, kneeling and clutching a purple stuffed dolphin, US state prosecutors said.