Two teenage girls who murdered a frail woman in a five-hour ordeal have been given life sentences. Julia Breen was at the hearing in Leeds.
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Prosecutor Gerry Wareham said the girls, who will serve a minimum of 15 years, had shown little remorse.
Mr Justice Globe added: “I have received one first-hand report from a member of court staff who I am satisfied saved your life by promt and immediate action when you suddenly chose to violently attack yourself with your own hair”.
He said some of these incidents happened in the Crown Court building during the trial, which finished earlier this week when both girls were found guilty of murder.
Wrightson, who suffered 100 injuries in the assault, was later found dead in the blood-spattered front room of her home. “There lay her vulnerability and downfall”.
He said the case for naming the younger girl was stronger but he accepted she was also vulnerable.
The victim was reportedly an acquaintance of the two girls who frequently bought them alcohol and allowed them to stay in her home.
But “from the first blow, there was no excuse for being violent”, he said.
Miss Wrightson’s gruesome murder, in December 2014, has been described as the most brutal detectives have seen for 25 years.
“You hurt her so badly she lost control of her bowels”. “They include heavy items such as a table, a television, a printer and a shovel”.
Later that night they spent 7 hours torturing Wrightson.
The girls allegedly paused the attack to take pictures of themselves with a smartphone and send them to friends through Snapchat.
It was an attack carried out in Angie’s own home. “One can only imagine the fear and distress that she must have felt”, he said.
A selfie posted to social media site Snapchat showed the defendants smiling with Miss Wrightson pictured in the background shortly before her death, with further selfies showing the girls drinking cider from a bottle.
“When all is said and done, two young lives have been destroyed”, he said.
Angela Wrightson’s mother, Maureen, revealed how she would never be able to “blink away” the horrific image when she saw her daughter’s battered body in the mortuary.
“No sentence, regardless of its severity, will ever bring Angie back”. The chance to put that right has been taken away from us.
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“Angie’s infectious personality touched the hearts of so many people and it is those fond memories which we continue to cherish as we attempt to move forward”.
