Woman given rare full life sentence for murder of French schoolgirl Lola Devitt

A woman who raped and killed 12-year-old Lola Deviet in Paris has been given a rare full life sentence in a case that has shocked France.

Dahabiya Benkired, aged 27, must spend at least 30 years behind bars after a panel of judges and a jury decided to impose the harshest penalty in the country.

Life tenure is extremely rare in France, and Benkired is the first woman.

Those sentenced include serial killer and rapist Michel Fournieret and jihadist Salah Abdeslam, who took part in the 2015 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

Lola was murdered in October 2022 and her body was found in a trunk not far from her home northeast of Paris.

Benkired is an Algerian immigrant who was ordered to leave the country. French right-wing and far-right politicians have seized on the case.