A care worker has been found guilty of the rape and “execution-style” murder of 13-year-old Lucy McHugh in Southampton.

Stephen Nicholson, 23, repeatedly stabbed the teenage girl in the neck and upper body before leaving her to die in woodland on 25 July last year.

The trial at Winchester Crown Court heard he was a lodger at the home she shared with her mother Stacey White and stepfather Richard Elmes, who was Nicholson’s best friend.

Prosecutors said he groomed Lucy for more than a year before killing her when she threatened to tell her mother she was pregnant.

Detective Superintendent Paul Barton, of Hampshire Police, described Nicholson as a “cold and calculated predatory paedophile”.

“He has targeted Lucy, taken advantage of her and when she wanted a relationship with him, he has taken the decision to silence her once and for all by brutally killing her,” the detective said after the verdict.

Lucy McHugh: Man denies raping and killing schoolgirl Show all 7 1 /7 Lucy McHugh: Man denies raping and killing schoolgirl Lucy McHugh: Man denies raping and killing schoolgirl Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Stephen Nicholson at Winchester Crown Court 20 June 2019. Elizabeth Cook/PA Lucy McHugh: Man denies raping and killing schoolgirl Court artist sketch by Elizabeth Cook of Stephen Nicholson at Winchester Crown Court 20 June 2019. Elizabeth Cook/PA Lucy McHugh: Man denies raping and killing schoolgirl CCTV image of Lucy McHugh dated 25 July 2018. PA/Hampshire Constabulary Lucy McHugh: Man denies raping and killing schoolgirl Stacey White, mother of Lucy McHugh, arrives at Winchester Crown court. Andrew Matthew/PA Lucy McHugh: Man denies raping and killing schoolgirl Undated handout photo issued by Hampshire Constabulary of Lucy McHugh. The jury at Winchester Crown Court in the trial of Stephen Nicholson accused of the murder of the schoolgirl has been shown CCTV footage of the 13-year-old's final movements. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Wednesday June 26, 2019. Carer Nicholson, 25, of no fixed address, is accused of repeatedly stabbing the teenager to the neck and upper body at Southampton Sports Centre before leaving her to die in July last year. See PA story COURTS Southampton. Photo credit should read: Hampshire Constabulary/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. Hampshire Constabulary PA/Hampshire Constabulary Lucy McHugh: Man denies raping and killing schoolgirl Undated handout file photo issued by Hampshire Constabulary of Lucy McHugh, also known as Lucy White whose body was found in woodland at Southampton Sports Centre on July 26, 2018. The prosecution is set to open its case at the trial of 25-year-old Stephen Nicholson, accused of the murder of Lucy McHugh and of raping her more than a year before she died. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday June 20, 2019. A panel of jurors has been selected from which 12 will be sworn in before prosecutor William Mousley QC opens the case against Nicholson. See PA story COURTS Southampton. Photo credit should read: Hampshire Constabulary/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder. Hampshire Constabulary PA/Hampshire Constabulary Lucy McHugh: Man denies raping and killing schoolgirl Winchester Crown Court. Andrew Matthew/PA

“There are a lot of signs which would suggest that Nicholson had been planning this, maybe only for just a few days.

“All these things indicate to me that he knew exactly what he was doing, which makes this even more vicious.”

Nicholson, who admitted an interest in “soft choking” women during sex, may have used his second job as a tattoo artist to target underage girls, the detective added.

The investigation into Lucy’s death, described by the Crown Prosecution Service as “one of the largest in criminal history”, was hampered when Nicholson refused to give police his Facebook password.

After applying through the US courts for access to his account, prosecutors only received a log of his Facebook contacts with Lucy on the day that the trial started.

However the contents of any messages between the killer and his victim had been lost during the intervening year.

Nicholson was linked to the murder through DNA evidence found on clothing he discarded in woodland in Tanner’s Brook, about a mile from the murder scene at Southampton Sports Centre.

He denied having a sexual relationship with the girl, despite entries in Lucy’s diary referring to him taking her virginity and describing a genital piercing.

Nicholson showed no emotion as he was convicted at Winchester Crown Court of Lucy’s murder as well as three counts of rape when she was aged 12. Nicholson was also found guilty of sexual activity with a child in relation to another girl in 2012, who was aged 14.

The judge, Mrs Justice May, adjourned the case for sentencing on Friday.

Following the verdict Southampton City Council said a serious case review would investigate the handling of allegations that Lucy was being abused.

The trial heard the vulnerable teenager came to the attention of teachers after she told several friends that she was pregnant and had been having a sexual relationship with Nicholson. Lucy was also caught using Snapchat to message her “boyfriend” during class.

However the council’s multi-agency safeguarding hub decided to take “no further action” after talking to Lucy’s mother, Stacey White, who had become “very, very unhappy” at the involvement of social services.