Ipswich double murderer Lorraine Thorpe refused parole

Lorraine Thorpe gloried in the murders, describing to friends how she had stamped on Ms Hunt's head, the sentencing judge said

A woman who was believed to be Britain's youngest female double murderer has been refused parole.

Lorraine Thorpe, of Ipswich, was 15 when she murdered her father Desmond Thorpe and a woman called Rosalyn Hunt in August 2009.

She was convicted and jailed in 2010 and told she would serve at least 14 years in prison.

The Parole Board said Thorpe, now 29, was deemed too great a risk to be released, or moved to an open prison.

Lived with alcoholics

Thorpe and her accomplice Paul Clarke, who died in prison in 2014, had repeatedly beaten and tortured Ms Hunt and then smothered Mr Thorpe, with their bodies found at separate flats.

Sentencing judge Mr Justice Saunders said Thorpe could be "manipulative" and was not acting entirely under Clarke's control, adding: "She found violence funny and entertaining."

He acknowledged her "appalling" circumstances, with Thorpe and her father living in "squalid" flats, and sometimes in tents, and spending all her time with middle-aged alcoholics.

"She has been left with no real understanding of what is right and what is wrong," the judge said.

"To describe her upbringing as not being a proper upbringing would be an understatement, but it has left her as a violent young woman and a highly manipulative young woman as well."

'Risk factors'

A Parole Board report said Thorpe became eligible for parole in August but did not wish to engage with the process.

Risk factors at the time of her offending included her early life experiences and her misuse of drugs and alcohol, it added.

Thorpe had taken part in programmes to address her decision-making "to help her better understand her risk factors", and completed work on her past misuse of drugs and alcohol.

"The panel considered there to be a need for further work in custody to address risk factors," the report stated.

"It found that any release plan from probation would not be robust enough to manage Ms Thorpe in the community at this time."

It added Thorpe would be eligible for a further parole review "in due course".

Clarke, also of Ipswich, was 41 when he was sentenced for both murders alongside Thorpe and jailed for life with a minimum term of 27 years.

Both he and Thorpe denied the charges and offered no evidence at their trial.

In 2011, they both lost an appeal against their convictions for Mr Thorpe's murder.