THE family of Katie Rough, the seven-year-old girl killed in a park, say the sentencing of her killer is "not the end of the story".

Katie died after she was smothered by a 16-year-old girl, who cannot be named and was 15 at the time, and then slashed with a Stanley knife in a park in York, in January.

The defendant, who admitted manslaughter due to diminished responsibility at a previous hearing, appeared by video-link at Leeds Crown Court today as Katie's family looked on from the jury box.

She was sentenced to a life sentence with a minimum term of five years.

A statement from Katie's family read: “Today is the end of a process, and that is a relief, but it is not the end of our story.

“Our story is about a loving home and family that was torn apart on a day when we lost our daughter.

“Our story goes on into a future where our home feels very empty, but we will keep going for sake of our other children and our grandson.

“We are so grateful for everyone who has helped us in these last months, including the whole community in York, who have been so generous with their kindness, their time and their money.

“We're especially thankful for the support of our closest family and friends – you know who you are.

“We’re very grateful as well to the many well-wishers who sponsored Paul and the other members of ‘Team Rough’ in the Great North Run in September. They have helped pay tribute to Katie’s memory by providing ten years’ worth of education and welfare for Pross and King, two Ugandan children of about her age.

“Our hopes for the future are for a loving and safe home for the rest of our family, and we hope we will now find the privacy for that to happen.

“Katie’s memory will live on in our hearts but also more widely, as a little girl who brought more colour to her world.

“You will find Katie’s memory in the flowers around the bench dedicated to her in the Museum Gardens in York; in the sculpture being made for Moorlands Nature Reserve; in the future we are helping to build for little King and Pross in Uganda, and above all in the strong community that has been such a support for us this year.

“Thank you.”