Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in a US prison for helping former financier Jeffrey Epstein abuse young girls.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted in December of recruiting and trafficking four teenage girls for sexual abuse by Epstein, her then boyfriend.

One of her accusers said outside the court in New York that she should stay in prison for the rest of her life.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019. 

He had been awaiting his own sex trafficking trial.

Ghislaine Maxwell's crimes took place over a decade, between 1994 and 2004.

Pronouncing the sentence, Judge Alison J Nathan said Maxwell's conduct had been "heinous and predatory".

"Ms Maxwell worked with Epstein to select young victims who were vulnerable and played a pivotal role in facilitating sexual abuse," she added.

She said the case called for a "very significant sentence" and that she wanted to send an "unmistakable message" that such crimes would be punished. 

As well as jail time, the judge imposed a fine of $750,000 (£610,000).

Maxwell, whose lawyers had argued for a term of less than five years, looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as the sentence was passed in front of a packed public gallery.

Earlier, she addressed her victims. She said she empathised with them, adding that she hoped her prison sentence would allow the victims "peace and finality".

Maxwell has been in custody since her arrest in July 2020, held mostly at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center.

The case against the British former socialite has been one of the highest-profile since the emergence of the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to speak out about sexual abuse.