'˜We have to go back to her house to see if she is dead' '“ Angela Wrightson witness tells court teenagers were bloodstained

The scene after Angela Wrightson's body was found

A friend of the two girls – then aged 13 and 14 – today told Leeds Crown Court how they turned up at his home in the early hours of the morning with blood on their clothes.

Ms Wrightson, 39, suffered horrific injuries allegedly at the hands of the girls in the living room of her home in Stephen Street, Hartlepool, in December, 2014.

She had been subjected to an attack with a variety of weapons, including a TV, computer printer, a shovel and a wooden stick with screws protruding from it.

The girls, now aged 14 and 15, both deny murder and cannot be named for legal reasons.

Giving evidence by video link, a teenage boy told how he knew both of the defendants through Facebook and was contacted by one in the early hours of Tuesday, December 9.

His interview with police was played to the court in which he said he was contacted at about 1am and the girls arrived about 20 minutes later and they went to a local park.

The youth said he noticed blood on both of the girls.

He said he heard the older girl say to the younger one: “We have to go back to her house to see if she is dead.”

He told police: “I don’t know if they were just doing it to make themselves sound big and hard.

“I said ‘what have you done?’ and they wouldn’t tell me anything, just that they fell over.”

He added: “(Younger girl) had blood on her trousers and a bit on her jumper, but it was mainly her trousers. (Older girl) had blood on her jeans.”

He said, when he asked why they had blood on their clothes, the younger girl said they “just fell over”.

He added: “I said ‘did both of you fall over as well?’ and they said that they fell together.

“It was only the next morning when I saw the paper (with news of the murder) that I thought it must be them.”

The girls then told the boy that they were leaving, so he decided to return home. Under cross examination by Nicholas Campbell QC, prosecuting, the witness said that the younger defendant had messaged him on Facebook later on Tuesday morning.

He said: “She said the police had come to pick her up and that she might be getting done for murder. At the time, I didn’t think she would do something as sick as that.”

Both the defendants, the jury heard, admit they were present at the time the injuries were inflicted to Ms Wrightson.