Teenage girls, 13 and 14, 'stopped to take selfies and post them on Snapchat as they battered woman to death

Two girls, aged 13 & 14 took selfies and posted them on Snapchat while they battered Angela Wrightson, 39 to death with a television set, computer printer and a kettle, a court heard today. She (Angela) was subjected to a 'sustained and brutal' assault before her half-naked body was found at her home in Hartlepool, in December. 

Two girls are accused of carrying out the attack, while the younger girl is said to have published a selfie taken at Ms Wrightson's home after the violence began on social media app Snapchat.

Ms Wrightson and the other girl, her best friend, could be seen in the picture and the older woman already had marks on her face, both girls were grinning, but Ms Wrightson was not. 

The landlord dialled 911 after he found her body sitting on a sofa in her front room, she was naked from the waist down and Forensic experts found shards of glass and gravel around the victim's 'private parts', and ash in her right ear.

There were well over 100 injuries, the evidence at the scene of the crime showed she had been struck in 12 separate locations within that room.

The younger girl who was staying with foster parents while the older one was in a local authority home had let themselves in through Miss Wrightson's unlocked front door at around 7.30pm and left after 11pm, jurors heard. They came back at around 2am the next morning before leaving a final time at 4am.

Ms Wrightson may already have been dead by 11pm, the court was told.