Angela Wrightson murder: Two teenage girls given life sentences over vulnerable woman tortured to death

Aged 13 and 14 at the time of the attack, the pair used weapons including a shovel, a TV, a coffee table and a stick studded with screws

Angela Wrightson, 39, was found dead at her home in Hartlepool, County Durham, in December 2014 (Cleveland Police/PA)

Two teenage girls who tortured a vulnerable woman to death at her Hartlepool home have been jailed for life over the murder.

The pair, who cannot be named for legal reasons, showed no reaction when they were sentenced over the killing of Angela Wrightson at Leeds Crown Court.

Now both 15, the girls were 13 and 14 when they attacked Angela Wrightson in the lounge of her home in County Durham.

They left her with more than 100 injures after using weapons including a shovel, a TV, a coffee table and a stick studded with screws.

The girls reportedly took selfies of themselves during the attack and posted a picture on social media taken in the back of a police van.

Sentencing the pair, Mr Justice Globe said the teenagers acted in tandem in "a cowardly attack".

"She undoubtedly suffered considerably, both mentally and physically, before she ultimately lost consciousness and died.

"Her alcoholic state, considerable though it was, may have numbed the pain but I stress the word may and it most certainly would not have taken it away."

A victim impact statement from Miss Wrightson's mother, Maureen, was not read to the court but the judge summarised parts of it.

He said: "She describes the horror of seeing Angie's battered body in the mortuary. She does not think she will ever be able to blink those images away.

"Having seen photographs of what Angie looked like at that time, I readily understand why she is of that view.

"She cannot understand how you could have been as violent as you were.

"She is not alone in that view.

"She had been disgusted by the laughing and giggling and sharing of photographs during the time of and immediately after the attack."

Additional reporting by PA