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.

SPURRED by the kidnapping and murder of a nine-year-old girl, Florida Governor Jeb Bush signed legislation yesterday that will see child molesters who do not get life in jail wear satellite tracking devices for the rest of their lives.

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