Murder of Angela Wrightson by teenage girls ‘could not have been prevented’

Two teenage girls who murdered a vulnerable alcoholic were known to social services for running away, drinking and being sexually active, a report has found.

The girls, aged 13 and 14, killed Angela Wrightson after a five-hour ordeal at her Hartlepool home in December 2014.

Reviews into the case have concluded that the 39-year-old’s murder could not have been prevented as there was "no suggestion" the teenagers were going to engage in serious violence.

The teenagers had attacked Ms Wrightson with a shovel, a TV, a coffee table and a stick studded with screws.

It has emerged that staff at the care home where the older girl lived had been unable to lock doors and stop her from running away before the brutal attack.

Both girls, who cannot be identified, were found guilty of Ms Wrightson’s murder last April and sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in prison.

The Hartlepool Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB), along with the Teeswide Safeguarding Adults Board, concluded that all of the parties involved – including Ms Wrightson – had received a high level of intervention from social services.

Dave Pickard, chair of the LSCB, said: "Neither young person had a criminal history and no history of any significant assaults on any other individuals.

"Their behaviour was troublesome and anti-social before the night in question, but there was no suggestion whatsoever of any serious violence: it was a total shock to everyone."

Both girls had turbulent family lives. Two months before the murder, the older teenager – named Olivia in the report – had been arrested for assaulting three members of staff at the care home and causing damage to the premises.

She was due to visit a forensic psychiatrist on the day she was arrested.

The younger girl, referred to as Yasmine, had been put into foster care after her parents claimed of being unable to cope.

Mr Pickard said the girls’ parents had blamed the teenagers for their bad behaviour prior rather than accepting any failures in their parenting.

"They (the girls) had experienced abuse and neglect and they were traumatised," he said.

Ms Wrightson, who was 5ft 4in and weighed six-and-a-half stone, was found dead in her blood-splattered living room after the attack.

Shortly before her death, the girls had uploaded a selfie to Snapchat which showed her in the background. Further photographs showed the teenagers drinking cider from a bottle.

After the attack, the girls rang the police to take them home and posted a photo online with the message: "Me and (older girl) in the back, on the bizzie van again."

(c) Sky News 2017: Murder of Angela Wrightson by teenage girls ‘could not have been prevented’