Teenager who killed dad to learn her fate

IPSWICH: A teenage girl found guilty of murdering her alcoholic father and another member of the street drinking community will hear her fate on September 7.

Lorraine Thorpe, 16, is due for sentencing at the Old Bailey, in London, having been jointly convicted at Ipswich Crown Court of killing her father, Des Thorpe, and fellow drinker Rosie Hunt.

Her accomplice, Paul Clarke, a 41-year-old long-term drinker and drug user, has already been sentenced to at least 27 years in prison.

During the trial the jury heard the pair tortured Mrs Hunt in the days leading up to her death, in August last year, because they thought she had hit Clarke’s dog.

Witnesses described Mrs Hunt being repeatedly kicked and punched in the head, being whipped with a dog chain, having her hair set alight with a cigarette lighter and having salt rubbed in her open wounds.

A post-mortem examination showed she had died from a heavy blow to her neck/chest area. She was also found to have multiple external injuries to her body and nine broken ribs.

In the wake of her death, the violent pair collected Thorpe’s father from Clarke’s flat in Mountbatten Court, Ipswich, and went with him to a friend’s flat in Limerick Close.

Mr Thorpe was smothered with a cushion and died on August 10 because he threatened to tell the police what had happened to Mrs Hunt.

Mr Thorpe’s body was found to have a number of external injuries as well as a faint, patterned mark on his forehead which could have been caused by the imprint of a shoe.