The two girls who murdered Angela Wrightson in Hartlepool had tried to shift blame on to each other during their trial.

The older girl accepted she struck the 39-year-old but said she did not intend her serious harm and accused her accomplice, telling the jury her younger friend told her to carry out the attack.

Image source, Cleveland Police

But the younger of the two said she played no part in the assault and did not encourage her friend in any way.

She told police her friend became angry and launched the attack after Miss Wrightson made a comment about her family.

Graphic details of how the two girls attacked the 39-year-old were disclosed at their court case last year.

Angela Wrightson was found naked from the waist down and grit and shards of glass had been scattered over her, jurors heard.

Blood-stained pictures of weapons used in the attack, which lasted more than five hours, were released by police.

They included a wooden stick laced with screws, a television set, a shovel, ornaments, a picture frame and a kettle.

The court heard Ms Wrightson was forcibly restrained while the pair "battered and tortured" her in a "sustained and brutal" attack.

A number of weapons were used to attack Angela, including a piece of wood with screws attached.

Image source, Cleveland Police

After the girls' conviction last year, the family said: "Angie was attacked and brutally murdered in her own home, a place where we all have the right to feel safe.

"Listening to the details of her injuries and of her final moments has been a harrowing experience and something which will continue to haunt us each and every day.

"No sentence, regardless of its severity, will ever bring Angie back."

The reports warn that services continue to be "fragmented", and that professionals will continue to experience "difficulty" in reaching out to adolescents.

But they add the younger girl's parents "refused to engage" with services, blamed her for her disruptive behaviour, and were unable to accept their abuse may have been had an impact.

The report also details how officials were overly sympathetic to the mother, as at one meeting shortly before the murder she asked for the girl to be taken into care.

She was not challenged over this, and the girl "continued to believe that this rejection was her fault".

Colin George
BBC News Online

To anyone who has seen a number of these reports, it sadly seems all too familiar.

The institutional inquest into Angela Wrightson's murder by two schoolgirls paints a sorry picture.

It tells of confusion among frontline services, poor information sharing and a lack of understanding about the bigger picture surrounding the two killers and their vulnerable victim.

The reports repeatedly state no-one could have foreseen Angela's murder, and that lessons will be learnt.

The authorities will desperately hope they are.

But as Dave Pickard, the chairman of Hartlepool Safeguarding Children Board said, it would be foolish to say this could never happen again.

Report findings on the two schoolgirl killers:

• Insufficient understanding of adolescent neglect
• Professionals "struggle to provide an effective service to vulnerable adults"
• Tendency to sympathise with parents of disruptive children, leaving children "vulnerable to abuse"
• Failure to take account of parents engagement with services

Report findings on Angela Wrightson at a glance:

• Insufficient senior clinical oversight for people with multiple diagnosis such as Angela
• Confusion between frontline efforts and the commissioning system
• Professionals had a "not robust" understanding of mental capacity
• "Disjoint" between children's and adults safeguarding

Image source, Cleveland Police

The report criticised "fixed thinking" on the part of social services which "relied too heavily" on the youngest murderer's mother.

She told officials her difficulties involving running away, disruption at school and alcohol abuse were down to her being "spoilt".

A plan was drawn up to help but "the services offered were not helpful because of the high level of conflict" between the pair.

Despite evidence of abuse by the father and fighting between mother and daughter, "there was an overall lack of recognition that the services being offered were focusing on the presenting problems, rather than looking at the underlying causes."

Today's reports tell how youngest killer, who was aged 13 at the time of the murder, was subjected to physical and emotional abuse by her parents.

The safeguarding board found officials too readily accepted her mother's claims she was disruptive because she had been "spoilt.

Her difficulties were "not seen in the context of parenting which was, at times, hositle, physically absive and blaming".

Today three reviews have been published into Angela Wrightson's murder in 2014.

Here's a timeline of events:

• In the early hours of Tuesday 9 December 2014, two teenage girls call 999 for a lift home (the girls pictured below near her house).
• Later that morning, Angela Wrightson's body is found in her blood-splattered Hartlepool home nearby.
• The same day, the two girls are arrested.
• The girls appear in court on 11 December.
• Their trial starts in July 2015 but on the third day, Mr Justice Globe is alerted to what he called "an avalanche of prejudicial comment" on social media.
• Late on 3 July 2015, he effectively orders the media to remove every comment about the trial from any news article and social media post.
• On 7 July 2015, the jury is discharged and proceedings are halted at Teesside Crown Court.
• The BBC appeals against this decision, and embarks on what turns out to be seven-month battle for the right to report on the case.
• On 16 February 2016, the trial begins again with a new jury.
• On 7 April 2016, the two girls are convicted of Angela Wrightson's murder and sentenced to 15 years each.

Image source, Cleveland Police

The two serious case reviews and safeguarding adult review were anonymised at the request of lawyers.

Carol refers to Angela Wrightson. The names of the two murderers are protected by a court order which means they cannot be named.

Hartlepool Borough Council's chief executive Gill Alexander said: "We can't just lock children up, you need to get a secure order, that is a very high threshold, their behaviour was well below the threshold for that.

"Hindsight is a wonderful thing and this was a really devastating and tragic event.

"We think these lessons are important for the country and we're asking for more investment in children's services.

"We carried out these reviews to see if there were any failings and human error, and I'm reassured by this report there was no human error."

In the reports, Angela Wrightson's family said they want to see her situation treated with the same seriousness as domestic abuse.

The report said: “(The family) say the number of vulnerable adults whose homes are taken over and who suffer regular abuse are unknown, yet there is no law making this type of home invasion illegal.”

The report into Ms Wrightson made five findings calling for better communication between agencies, increased awareness of mental health issues and improved connection between children’s and adult’s services.

The reports into the girls made six findings including the need for improved understanding of the affect of neglect on adolescents and removing a “tendency to sympathise with parents leaving emotional abuse unidentified and children vulnerable to continued abuse”.

Image source, Cleveland Police/PA

Duncan Leatherdale
BBC News Online

Two girls who brutally murdered a vulnerable woman were too often blamed for their “chaotic lives” by social workers, a report has concluded.

Angela Wrightson, 39, suffered more than 100 injuries as she was attacked by the girls, aged 13 and 14, in her home in Hartlepool.

The girls were sentenced to life with a minimum of 15 years after being found guilty of murder at Leeds Crown Court.

Dave Pickard, the chairman of Hartlepool's Safeguarding Children Board says the girls who murdered her had experience abuse and neglect which had had an impact on their well-being.

Angela Wrightson's family have been informed of the contents of the three reports.

Ann Baxter was asked how the reacted, and said: "There still taking them in, they're not an easy read.

"They understand the process and the outcomes and will be watching with interest what happens next."

Dave Pickard says: "It's a very difficult balance" between keeping children with their families and putting them into care, but adds the attitudes of the parents needed to be more robustly challenged.

Chairman of Hartlepool Safeguarding Children's Board Dave Pickard said:

On the subject of the girls, who were 13 and 14 at the time of the murder, repeatedly fleeing care, Dave Pickard said: "There is national guidance that you cannot lock doors in children's homes."

He adds no-one has lost their jobs or been disciplined over the murder.

Dave Pickard says there are a number of areas where improvements have been, are, and will take place.

"But none of these would have prevented the death," he said.