Teenager accused of murdering Angela Wrightson denies trying to destroy evidence

The 14-year-old – one of two teenagers accused of murdering Ms Wrightson – was being questioned at Leeds Crown Court by prosecutor Nicholas Campbell QC over forensic evidence, which suggested she had taken her boots off at the scene.

“Can you remember any time that you were walking in Angela Wrightson’s home that night without your Ugg boots on?” asked Mr Campbell. The girl replied “No”.

“Can you remember taking your boots off to clean them?” he asked, which she also denied.

“Did you try to get rid of evidence on your boots?” asked Mr Campbell. “No,” replied the girl.

“Had you been kicking and stamping on Angela?” asked Mr Campbell.

“No,” she said.

Ms Wrightson, 39, was found partially clothed in her home in Stephen Street, Hartlepool, by her landlord on the morning of Tuesday, December 9, 2014.

The 14-year-old and the other defendant, now 15, deny murder. Neither can be named for legal reasons.

Mr Campbell asked the girl why she and her co-accused had left Ms Wrightson’s house only to return a short time later.

“Were you enjoying yourself?” he asked. “No,” she replied.

The court heard the girl had sent her co-accused a message several weeks before Ms Wrightson’s death, referring to the 15-year-old as her “little partner in crime”.

“What did you mean by that?” asked Mr Campbell.

The teenager replied that the other girl used to say it to her, “so I put it in there”.

Asked what she thought the older girl meant by it, she said: “I did not know, to be honest.”

l The trial continues.