Angela Wrightson death: Girls 'dropped TV on victim'

Angela Wrightson's body was found at her home in Hartlepool by her landlord

Two schoolgirls dropped a television on a frail woman they "forcibly restrained", battered and tortured to death, a court has heard.

Angela Wrightson was found dead and half-naked by her landlord at her home in Hartlepool in December 2014.

The 39-year-old had suffered "well in excess of 103" injuries, including 80 to her face, and her living room was splattered with blood.

The girls, aged 13 and 14 at the time, deny murder.

The jury at Leeds Crown Court heard the older girl previously admitted manslaughter.

There was evidence Ms Wrightson had tried to fight back, the court was told.

Prosecutor Nicholas Campbell QC said she had tried to deflect the weapons, believed to have included a television, a computer printer, a shovel, a wooden stick with protruding screws, a coffee table and a kettle.

"At least one of those weapons was swung overhead, resulting in blood being cast off on to the ceiling," he said.

The court heard one of the girls took a photo in the back of a police van that took them home after the alleged attack

The violence was said to have taken place over five hours from the evening of Monday 8 December into the early hours of the following day.

It is not known when Ms Wrightson, who was 5ft 4in and weighed six-and-a-half stone, died.

The girls, who cannot be named for legal reasons, giggled and posed for selfies at the scene, described as "akin to a bomb site", the court heard.

They admit they were present at the time the injuries were inflicted.

The older girl accepts that she struck Ms Wrightson but said she did not intend her serious harm.

The younger girl says she played no part in the assault and did not encourage her co-accused in any way.

Angela Wrightson was assaulted in 12 places in her living room, prosecutors said

The jury was told following the death, the younger girl was said to have disclosed to a friend in a phone call: "We done Angie in last night".

When asked why she did not phone police, she allegedly said: "Because I wanted her dead."

Mr Campbell said the younger girl told police that the older girl used a table to "whack" Ms Wrightson over the head and she had told the older girl to "behave herself".

The younger girl claims Ms Wrightson had armed herself with a knife.

After the attack, the girls - who were in the care of the local authority - phoned police to request a lift home.

The trial, expected to last five weeks, continues.