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Oscar Pistorius has been jailed for SIX years for the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

The Olympic and Paralympic icon repeatedly shot the 29-year-old model after she barricaded herself in the bathroom of his home in Pretoria on February 2013.

He was sentenced at North Gauteng High Court this morning to gasps in the courtroom as the sentence - far below the recommended 15-year jail term - was read out.

Pistorius sat in the courtroom with his head bowed ahead of sentencing and at times sobbed quietly in the dock before the six-year sentence was delivered.

Judge Thokozile Masipa described Pistorius as a "fallen hero and broken man" who is suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The 29-year-old was convicted of murder last December after his original "culpable homicide" conviction was overturned.

(Image: Getty)

South Africa and the rest of the world were left stunned when Ms Steenkamp was shot and killed by Pistorius on Valentine's Day 2013.

The model was in the bathroom of the athlete's £265,000 house on the outskirts of Pretoria when he fired four shots through the door.

Neighbours in the upmarket Silver Lakes gated community told police they had heard shouting and screaming earlier in the night.

In a desperate bid to escape a murder conviction he told police and the courts he left Reeva in bed to confront an intruder before shooting through the door.

Pistorius - who underwent a double leg amputation below the knee as an 11-month-old - claimed he felt frightened and vulnerable as he wasn't wearing his prosthetic legs when he thought he heard the sound of his bathroom window opening.

Reeva was facing the closed door when she was hit in the hip by the first bullet. She then fell back onto a magazine rack as a second bullet hit her right arm.

(Image: Reuters) (Image: Barcroft)

The final two shots from a 9mm pistol hit her in the head and she died in Pistorius' arms.

Judge Masipa told the court Pistorius had suffered severe mental health problems since Reeva's murder.

She said: "He is a fallen hero, he has lost his career and his ruined financially. Having taken a human life in the way he did, he cannot be at peace.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Getty)

"Recovery is possible but it will depend mostly on the accused's attitude to the punishment imposed upon him

"Since the offence he has developed a serious psychiatric condition which has got worse over the past few years.

"He has severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. He has become isolated and fearful of venturing out in public."

(Image: Reuters) (Image: South Africa Police) (Image: Getty)

Judge Masipa also said there was no evidence the couple were in a violent relationship leading up to the murder.

She told the court: "There is no evidence at all that the deceased was in an abusive relationship. There was also no evidence that this was a case of domestic."

She went on to describe Pistorius as 'two different' people on and off the athletics track - where is gold medals earned him the hero worship of fans.

She said: "Even without the physical demonstration which took place in court with the accused on his stumps, it is clear we are dealing with two different persons.

(Image: EMPICS) (Image: Getty) (Image: Barcroft Media)

"To ignore this fact would be to lead to an injustice".

Oscar's brother Carl Pistorius tweeted just minutes after the sentencing, saying 'justice had been done'.

He said: "The record has been set straight and justice done. The truth will always prevail."

On October 21, 2014, Pistorius was jailed for five years after Judge Masipa dismissed the prosecution case he had murdered his girlfriend and found him guilty of culpable homicide.

(Image: Reuters)

Pistorius returned to the Supreme Court to face an appeal shortly after his release from prison last year.

The appeal judge agreed with prosecutors and convicted Pistorius of murder.

Judge Lorimer Leach dismissed Pistorius' argument that he was acting in self-defence, finding that there was no rational basis for him to have feared for his life.

The judge said: "He must have foreseen that the person he was firing at behind the door might have been fatally injured."