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Teens handed life sentences for brutal murder of Angela Wrightson

Two teenage girls have been given life sentences with a minimum of 15 years at Leeds Crown Court for the brutal murder of 39-year-old Angela Wrightson in her home in Hartlepool.

The girls used weapons - including a coffee table, television set, a computer printer and a shovel - to carry out the "sustained and brutal" attack over several hours in December 2014.

The court heard the pair, who were 13 and 14 at the time, shared photographs during and after the attack on social media.

The teenagers cannot be named for legal reasons.

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Judge refuses to lift anonymity ban on teenage murderers

Photo of Angela Wrightson taken some years before her death.

A judge refused to lift an order banning the identification of the two girls jailed for the murder of Angela Wrightson after hearing that the older of the pair repeatedly attempted suicide.

Mr Justice Globe said that some of these attempts happened on court premises, during the trial.

In one, the judge told the girl that he was satisfied that a court official saved her life.

He said the case for naming the younger girl was stronger but he accepted she was also vulnerable.

I am concerned and disturbed by what I regard as a heightened real risk that identification by a press blitz will elevate the risk to your life to such an extent that I am satisfied that there is a real and immediate risk to your life if you were to be identified as one of the two girls who murdered Angela Wrightson.

– Mr Justice Globe

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