A prison officer has been jailed for life after he forced a four-year-old girl to watch as he shot dead her parents, then locked her inside a car with their bodies before putting it in first gear so it rolled into the sea.

The little girl clung to the body of her dad as she drowned in Crimea, Russia.

Raven Samar, 29, committed the crime to steal £3,200 to clear his debts.

He was jailed for life for murder with “particular cruelty” by a court in Crimea, and under Russian laws will never be paroled or released so will die in jail.

But more than 4,000 people signed a petition to Vladimir Putin demanding he should face the death penalty for the triple killings including the cold-blooded murder of the child.

Samar extorted cash from Konstantin Larkov, 35, and killed the man along with his partner Inna Khodareva, 32, and their child Arina to hide the crime, the court found

Raven Samar, who has children himself, said that he ‘wilfully’ drowned the child 
Arina cowered behind her mum after she was shot in front of her 

He had offered to sell his car but shot dead the family man with a stolen prison service Makarov pistol when he handed over roubles with £3,200 in cash.

The man died on the spot from five gunshot wounds in full view of his distressed wife and daughter, said police.

Then Samar fired two bullets at the woman, killing her, as the girl cowered inches away by her mother’s knees on the back seat.

The murderer got out of the Chevrolet Lanos car, jamming it into first gear so it drove through the reeds into the sea with the screaming child locked inside with her dead parents.

Arina Larkov drowned after the car was submerged 
Samar, himself a father, confessed to “wilfully” killing the child by drowning.

“The child was inside the car,” he told police.

He was asked: “Did the child cry?”

He replied: “Yes, cried.”

In a disturbing video at the murder scene he explains to detectives how he carried out the killings.

Having admitted the the crime, Samar changed his testimony and claimed in court that another man committed the killings in the Kerch Strait, but he was found guilty and sentenced to a maximum sentence for murder, fraud and theft of a firearm.

Konstantin’s mother Irina Larkova said: “When the car was lifted out of the water, dead Arina was in the front seat hugging her dad.

Arina cuddled her dad, Konstantin Larkov (pictured), as she died
Inna Khodareva was murdered in the car 

“My granddaughter until the last minute believed that her dad was strong and will save her and not allow anyone to hurt her.”

Like the killer’s mother – who was not named – she believes that Samar had an accomplice who has not been found.

“I just don’t believe that my son could have done this,” she said, claiming her son was framed.

”Pavel with his wife and child, a few days after the murder, went to a children’s party.

“If he had killed a child, could he gone to have fun there?

His wife Inna was also gunned down during the robbery 

 

“He is a normal person.

“I don’t know what really happened.

“It doesn’t fit in my head.

“But he could never raise a hand to a child.”

Local community activist Alexander Talipov said it was time to restore the death penalty, which is suspended in Russia.

“I am in deep shock,” he said.

Russia halted use of the death penalty after the collapse of the USSR.