A man has been jailed for 12 years for the rape and murder of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in 1995.

Jos G., 51, was found not guilty of killing Nicole van den Hurk at his trial in 2016, but appeal judges ruled there was enough evidence to convict him of murder. He was sentenced to five years in prison for raping Nicole.

The case was reopened in 2011 after Nicole’s body was disinterred so DNA samples could be taken for analysis. G. was arrested in 2014 because his DNA matched traces found on her body and jacket.

However, the district court in Den Bosch said there was doubt about his guilt because another unidentified DNA sample was found on her body.

Nicole was found dead in woodland between Lierop and Mierlo, near Eindhoven, six weeks after she went missing in October 1995. Colleagues at the supermarket where she worked raised the alarm after she failed to turn up for a shift.

G. said he may have had consensual sex with Nicole but denied raping her. The appeal court decided after hearing evidence from DNA experts that he sexually assaulted her.

G., from Helmond, was being detained in a secure psychiatric hospital when he was arrested for the murder of Nicole, having been convicted in 2000 of raping his ex-girlfriend.