A TEENAGE girl studying at a boarding school in the region has been murdered with her parents in a mafia-style killing in Moscow.

Elizaveta Slesareva, 15, was travelling in a Mercedes with her mother Natalia and banker father Alexander when the vehicle was sprayed with bullets from a passing car.

Her parents died immediately. Elizaveta, known as Lisa, was wounded and was taken to hospital where she died from her injuries.

Her younger sister is reported to have survived. An Audi containing a Makarova pistol and Kalashnikov automatic weapon was later discovered burnt-out. Lisa was a pupil at St Peter's School, in York, for six weeks.

Housemaster Matthew Grant said: "She had worked really hard in the classroom, had settled well into the school, overcoming language difficulties, and she had begun to understand our culture.

"Those who were close to her were aware she was reluctant to return home at half-term. She was happy at school and had some friends here.

"Her life in Moscow allowed her little freedom - indeed, she had confessed that she was not looking forward to having to live with a bodyguard at her side."

The school is planning a memorial service tomorrow.

Mr Grant said: "Her untimely death has left a hole in the lives of those alongside whom she existed.

"This is a terrible waste of a young life and Lisa's peers will appreciate that as well as anyone else."

Her father is reported to be the multi-millionaire former owner of a Russian bank, Sodbiznesbanka, which helped trigger a banking crisis last year when its licence was revoked by the Russian Central Bank on suspicion of money laundering.

Police reportedly suspect that the murders are connected to the bank fiasco.