Britain’s youngest female double murderer, 15, ‘tortured friend with cheese grater’

WARNING, DISTRESSING CONTENT Lorraine Thorpe was just 15 when she murdered her father and his friend in 2009, and the Parole Board has now cleared her to move to an open jail after finding her risk of violence has reduced

Britain’s youngest female double murderer – who suffocated her father and tortured his companion to death – has been approved to transfer to an open prison.

Lorraine Thorpe was 15 when she committed the killings in 2009 and was sentenced to at least 14 years, declaring to officers at the time: “You’ll find my footprint on my dad.” Thorpe and older accomplice Paul Clarke, 41, whom she encountered through a social network of drinkers, killed Rosalyn Hunt, 41, following a dispute about a dog.

Rosalyn, who was also part of the drinking circle, was beaten to death after Clarke and Thorpe inflicted appalling torture upon her, attacking her with a cheese grater before rubbing salt into the wounds. Rosalyn was also assaulted, trampled on, suffered broken ribs, and was lashed with dog chains.

Several days afterwards, the duo chose to kill Thorpe’s father Desmond Thorpe, 43, to prevent him from exposing them to authorities regarding the initial murder. Police swiftly connected the killings and detained both Thorpe and Clarke, reports the Mirror.

In 2014, Clarke was discovered dead in his cell at HMP Whitemoor, Cambridgeshire, just days before a documentary about the murders was scheduled to broadcast. He had been serving life imprisonment with a minimum sentence of 27 years.

The Parole Board determined that Thorpe, now 31, should remain imprisoned but could be moved to an open facility.

Thorpe became Britain’s youngest convicted female double murderer following the pair’s trial at Ipswich Crown Court. In a ruling issued on Tuesday, the Parole Board stated Thorpe required assessment in more lenient prison circumstances before release could be contemplated.

“After considering the circumstances of her offending, the progress made whilst in custody and the evidence presented at the hearing, the panel agreed that Ms Thorpe should not be released,” the board declared.

The panel acknowledged Thorpe’s “general maturation” and “the fact that she had not evidenced violence or aggression for many years”, noting that her “risk of violence towards others had reduced by her own actions in custody.”

She will qualify for another parole assessment in two years.

When sentencing the teenager at the Old Bailey in 2010, Mr Justice Saunders, QC, branded Thorpe as “stubborn and manipulative”.

He stated she was a violent young woman following a childhood spent looking after her alcoholic father, residing in squalid flats or tents, surrounded by a gang of drunks.

The judge remarked: “She appears to have been left with no real understanding of what is right and what is wrong. She finds violence funny and entertaining. No one who has heard the evidence in this case could doubt for a moment that she had immense difficulties in her life.

“To describe her upbringing as not being a proper upbringing would be an understatement. It has left her a violent young woman and a highly manipulative young woman as well.”

The court was told that Thorpe and her father had relocated to live with Clarke alongside a group of heavy drinkers. The judge characterised Clarke as a “bully”.

Neither Clarke nor Thorpe opted to testify and both rejected the murder charges.

Mary Bell, who was detained aged 11 in 1968 for the manslaughter of two boys aged three and four, continues to hold the record as the youngest female killer.