Two teenage girls aged 13 and 14 beat a woman to death in her home in a “sustained and brutal attack” before posting mocking images on Snapchat, a court has heard. Angela Wrightson, 39, was found with more than 100 injuries after being battered with a variety of different implements, including a wooden stick, a TV set, a computer printer and a coffee table.



The two girls are on trial for her murder at Leeds crown court, where a jury heard that 39-year-old Wrightson was tortured and beaten to death as she pleaded for her life. Following the attack, “further indignities were heaped” on Wrightson as she lay unconscious and motionless on her sofa.

The jury was told that after the attack, the girls, who had both been reported as missing by their carers, called the police to get a lift home. As the girls, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sat “laughing and joking” in the back of the police van, they were described as being in “high spirits”. They posted mocking pictures to Snapchat captioned “Me and [name] in the back of the bizzie van again”.



The following day, as the net began to close on the pair, one of the defendants told a friend, “I might be getting sent down,” the jury was told. Wrightson’s half-naked body was found at her home in Hartlepool, County Durham, on 8 December 2014.

Nicholas Campbell QC, prosecuting, told the jury: “It was a Tuesday morning … that the bloodstained body of a 39-year-old woman was discovered in her Hartlepool home. Angela Wrightson was found by her landlord. The body was sitting on a sofa in her front room. She was naked from the waist down.” The landlord contacted the emergency services.



“It became clear that Angela Wrightson had been the victim of a sustained and brutal attack,” Campbell said. “There were well over 100 injuries. The evidence at the scene of the crime showed she had been assaulted in 12 different locations within that room.



Both defendants deny murder. They were in court on Wednesday, each accompanied by an intermediary to help them to understand the court process.

The jury was told that both girls were in local authority care at the time of the murder. Now aged 14 and 15, the defendants had formed an intense relationship with each other and both had difficult relationships with their mothers, the court heard.

Campbell said: “The defendants had known each other for many years, and had become friends. As they grew into their teens, that friendship had caused concern to those charged with their care. At night they would often run off together, causing the police to be involved in their return. The relationship between the two was close, even intense.”

The court heard that Wrightson, who was an alcoholic, would regularly purchase alcohol and cigarettes for teenagers in Stephen Street, described as a “hotspot for underage drinking”. Friends of Wrightson’s had become concerned about the number of children who had begun to call on her.



Campbell said: “This had started up in the summer of 2014. Wrightson had got herself a reputation for going to the local shop, just around the corner from Stephen Street, to buy cigarettes and sometimes alcohol for children whom the shop assistants would not serve.



“She complained that she was being forced into it, but equally accepted that she stood to gain from the arrangement, by way of cigarettes or alcohol for herself.”



On the night of the murder, the defendants had both repeatedly been to Wrightson’s house and were eventually let in just after 7.30pm. Wrightson was then spotted on CCTV going to the local shop to buy a bottle of cider and chocolate while the two defendants remained in her house. They remained there for three and a half hours before leaving at just after 11pm and then returning again at 2am. They finally left the house at just after 4am.



Campbell said: “By that time at the very least, Wrightson had been fatally injured and was probably dead. Indeed, there is evidence that they believed she may have already died before their return at 2am. It is right that only the defendants know when the violence started and when it ended, but the prosecution case is that neither has given a true account of what happened.”

The court heard that the violence had begun at 9pm, when one of the defendants posted a photograph from inside Wrightson’s home with the photo sharing and messaging app Snapchat. The photograph showed the two “smiling defendants” with Wrightson in the background with marks on her face.

Campbell said: “The defendants are smiling. Wrightson is sitting facing the camera. She is alive, but she is not smiling, and her face is marked. The quality of the image is not the greatest, but it is clear enough to show that by nine o’clock there were marks on Wrightson’s face and that they are recent.”

More selfies were taken in the house by the defendants at around 10.30pm showing them drinking cider, but they did not show Wrightson again. A Facebook call was also made from the house where the defendants were heard laughing and encouraging each other to attack Wrightson. During the call they were heard saying: “Go on, [name of older girl]. Smash her head in. Bray her. Fucking kill her.”

The defendants left the house at just after 11pm to meet a friend who questioned why they had bloodstains on their clothes. They then returned to the house at 2am before leaving at just after 4am.



After calling the police asking for a “lift home, the girls were picked up in a police van. During the journey the younger girl took a photo of the other defendant and shared the image on Snapchat.

Campbell said: “The prosecution case is that they were in it together and that they are jointly responsible for this fatal act.”

The following day, as news of Wrightson’s death was reported by a local newspaper, the girls told friends and carers that they had attacked Wrightson after she had threatened them with a knife. They described how they had “smashed the bits” over Wrightson, including a television. The jury heard how they had how they had “stamped all over her head” as she pleaded with them saying: “Please don’t. Stop. I’m scared.” In spite of this, the defendants continued to beat Wrightson as she lay in a pool of blood with her hands “scrunched up”.



Wrightson was described as being house proud, despite being known in her local community as an alcoholic who was in regular contact with the police and social services.

Campbell said: “If the defendants had had troubled histories, the same is true of Angela Wrightson. She was 39 when she died, although she looked a great deal older than that. She was an alcoholic, and was well known as such in her community. She was well liked, and when sober was a good neighbour. She gave chocolates to the young children and fed the local dogs.



“She kept her home tidy most of the time, and was always buying cleaning materials for it. And she liked to entertain, meticulously planning and executing her menu. But when in drink, she could be difficult, and she was well known to the police and to the emergency services.”



The trial continues.