Teen killers fAce life in prison

Couple were just 14 when they murdered mother and daughter Elizabeth and Katie Edwards

A 15-year-old girl and her boyfriend are facing life behind bars after brutally stabbing a mother and daughter to death. The teenage girl, who cannot be named because of her age, had claimed that mental illnessdiminishedherresponsibility for the killings of dinner lady Elizabeth Edwards and 13-year-old Katie Edwards.

But jurors – who heard that the defendants’ toxic Bonnie and Clyde-style relationship “led on to” the killings – took two-and-half hours to reject the girl’s defence and convict her of murder.

Herformerboyfriend, who also cannot be named, pleadedguilty to murderbefore the trial began. A five-day trial at NottinghamCrownCourtwas told that the schoolgirl and her boyfriend planned the killings and carried them out “to the letter” when they were both aged 14.

The teenagers - thought to beBritain’s youngestevercouple to be convicted of murder - went on to share a bath, have sex, and watch four vampirethemed Twilight films after the murders in Spalding in April.

The court was told the young girl was the driving force behind the killings.

After asking detectives: “Should I explain it all?” at thestart of twoseparateinterviewsheldonthesameday the teenager even detailed how she unzipped a holdall containing four knives, including the weapon used to kill Elizabeth and Katie Edwards.

Moments after dinnerlady Ms Edwards was stabbed in the neck in her bed, the fe- male defendant entered the room to see if her boyfriend was all right.

“I wentinto the roomtosee what was going on,” she later told detectives. “I just wanted to check if he was OK.

“I thought I heard her say ‘Get off me’ but I am not entirely sure. Then after about 10 minutes of him putting his weight on her, she died.

The girl even informed police howshehadbackedoutof stabbing theyoungervictimat the last minute, andurgedher boyfriend to minimise noise by taking off his shoes.

She told officers: “I whispered ‘ What about your shoes?’ – we had planned for him to take them off and he said ‘It doesn’t matter’.

“WhenIopenedtheT-shirt that had the knives in, he said ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ I said yes.

“I said I didn’t exactly want to kill (theyoungervictim) and he said ‘I’ll do it instead’.

Speaking i mmediately after the case, DCI Martin Holvey, from the East Midl ands Special Operations Unit ( Major Crime), said: “What makes this case even more shocking is that these two were aged just 14 when they planned and committed these callous, senseless, and unprovoked attacks on Elizabeth and Katie.

“This c a s e has l e f t a number of lives in ruins, not onlyElizabethandKatie’sfamilies but also the twojuveniles who committed this horrendous crime.”

After the verdict was returned, judgeJusticeHaddonCave commendedlocalpolice andalsopraisedtheinvestigation team, saying that the case hadbeenpreparedwith‘excellent skill and clarity’.

The pair will be sentenced on November 10 at Nottingham Crown Court.

Elizabeth and, inset, Katie