IT was a case which shocked the nation. Two teenage girls – dubbed the "Snapchat killers" by the national press – murdered a vulnerable alcoholic in her own home, taking 'selfies' as they did so. JULIA BREEN reports on the night Angela Wrightson was tortured to death.

The Northern Echo:

CCTV footage of Angela Wrightson in a shop, released by Cleveland Police

BEATEN, kicked, attacked with a television, shovel and a kettle, stripped half naked and left for dead, Angela Wrightson's prolonged and agonising death shocked the nation, especially when it emerged that her killers were children.

The frail alcoholic, who weighed just six and a half stone, was found dead in her own living room, which was splattered with her blood, on December 8, 2014.

She had been "befriended" by two girls, aged just 13 and 14, who used her to buy cider for them.

"Angie", as she was known, had lived a difficult life, growing up in the care system, and was an easy target for those looking to prey on her vulnerabilities.

Her two troubled murderers were in the care system, the older one in a residential home, the younger fostered. They had run off together before and regularly visited Angela at her home in Stephen Street, Hartlepool, which was described as a "hotspot for teenage drinking".

On one cold December night, the girls let themselves into Angela's home and asked her to go to the shop for them to buy alcohol and chocolate, which was not unusual.

The judge at the trial last year, in Leeds Crown Court, said to the girls: "It was in her own living room. She kindly invited you in. She kindly went out to buy you what you wanted. She kindly let you stay.

"You then abused her hospitality and attacked her again and again in the very place where a person is supposed to feel safe."

Earlier that day the older girl, Girl A, had an argument with her mother and had taken some strong painkillers. The girls met up and let themselves into Angela's unlocked home before sending the 39-year-old to the shop.

When she returned they started a five-hour campaign of violence against Angela. Noone knows what their motivation was, but they left a lot of evidence at the crime scene.

They were said to be "more than tipsy" on cider ahead of the attack on their victim, who was said to be in an "argumentative mood".

Between 7.30pm and 11pm they restrained her and battered her with some of the few objects Angela owned, including a computer printer, kettle, ornaments, a shovel and a piece of wood with screws sticking out of it.

They also smashed a television over her head during the vicious attack, leaving their victim with over 100 injuries to her body, many of those to her face. She had 70 slash injuries and 54 blunt force injuries, with evidence she had tried to ward off the blows.

Mid-attack they stopped to take a smiling selfie, which they posted on Snapchat, with the word 'nah'. It is not known what this meant. Angela's bruised face could be seen in the background on the picture.

They took more photographs later, then Girl B, the younger girl, made a phonecall to her friend, who could hear Girl A in the background shouting: "Smash her head in. Kill her."

A little after 11pm the girls left to meet another friend, lying about the blood on their clothing, but returned to Stephen Street at 2am, where their campaign of violence continued. It is not known whether Angela was dead or alive by the time they returned.

There they defiled her body, by throwing ornamental pebbles on their victim's head and burning paper before scattering ash in her ear.

By 4am, they left in "high spirits" and called 999 to use the police as a taxi service to go home, despite being covered in blood. They could be heard giggling and laughing during two calls to the emergency services. As they were driven back to their respective homes by the unsuspecting officers they posted Snapchat pictures of themselves in the back of the "bizzie van".

Angela was found dead on her sofa, half naked, by her landlord a little before 9am that morning, Tuesday, December 9.

Judge Mr Justice Globe said as he sentenced the girls last year: "You left behind you Angie semi-conscious, unconscious or already dead, slumped on her red couch, naked from the waist down with ornamental pebbles having been poured over her head, dripping down her clothes and on to her private parts.

"You hurt her so badly she lost control of her bowels."

He told her that Angela's mother "cannot blink away the images of her battered body" as he sentenced them to life sentences, with a minimum of 15 years.