A contract killer who stabbed a mother to death and fatally strangled her five-year-old daughter for just GBP 860 has been sentenced to life in a high-security prison.

The gruesome killings took place near Krasnokamsk, Russia, on 17th August 2022.

The victims’ mutilated bodies were found by law enforcement on 24th August 2022, a week after the 45-year-old mother and her daughter went missing.

Senior prosecutor Alexey Chepkasov said about defendant Andrey Serebrov: “He inflicted knife wounds on Taisiya Nosova, which caused her death.

“Kuzmicheva came downstairs and told him to kill the child. He went up with a rope, which was a torn fragment of a towel, and strangled the child.”

The court heard how one of Taisiya’s friends, Maya Kuzmicheva, had hired Serebrov to carry out the killings.

Kuzmicheva was also a friend of Serebrov, 40, and had paid him to kill Taisiya and her daughter because she had convinced herself that the mother was trying to seize her property.

She had also told the contract killer that Taisiya had put a curse on her and that the only way to get rid of it was by killing her.

The court heard how Serebrov, who had just been released from prison, was given just RUB 100,000 (GBP 860) to carry out the double murder.

Chepkasov said: “Kuzmicheva did indeed tell Serebrov that she was under a curse by Nosova and that the only way to get rid of it was through murder, but I believe Serebrov didn’t attach much importance to it. His goal was the money.”

The grisly crime was discovered after Kuzmicheva rented a house in the countryside near Krasnokamsk, Perm territory, and invited Taisiya and her daughter to visit from their home in the Bashkortostan republic.

After the pair stopped responding to calls and messages, Taisiya’s brother, Sergey Prokofiev, went to the police.

The victims’ bodies were later found buried in a shallow grave in a forest near the country house.

Sergey said: “A premeditated murder. Even a pit was dug.”

According to the investigation, Taisiya’s daughter died a terrifying death. Chepkasov said: “The child resisted, fought desperately for her life, but it didn’t stop him.”

The court also heard how Serebrov used part of his earnings from the double killing to buy flowers and gifts for his girlfriend.

The Perm Territorial Court pronounced his sentence on 7th July.

During her own trial, Kuzmicheva told the court: “Please clarify the identity of this friend. She was involved in black magic! Everyone knew this, and she was after my apartment.”

According to local media, Kuzmicheva suffers from “a severe mental illness”.

She has not been sentenced yet, but local media report that she will likely be sent to a psychiatric hospital for compulsory treatment.