Britain’s youngest female double murderer who killed her father and a woman in separate incidents has been granted her first parole hearing and could walk free from prison.
Lorraine Thorpe was just 15 when she killed her father Desmond Thorpe, 43 and Rosalyn Hunt, 41, in Ipswich, Suffolk, in August 2009.
Thorpe, who had been part of Ipswich’s street drinking culture since aged 13, was convicted alongside her ‘role model’ Paul Clarke, then aged 41, and sentenced at London‘s Old Bailey.
She has now served her minimum term and has been granted a parole hearing which is likely to be heard in the ‘early summer.’
Lorraine Thorpe became Britain’s youngest female double murderer at the age of 15 after the brutal killings of her father Desmond and Rosalyn Hunt
A seven-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court heard that Rosalyn Hunt was the first victim and was beaten to death over several days, with Thorpe responsible for kicking, punching and stamping on her head.
Thorpe’s father Desmond, a ‘vulnerable’ alcoholic, was smothered amid fears that he would tell the police about the first murder.
The court hearing in August 2010 revealed shocking details about the culture of violence among some street drinkers in Ipswich and of Thorpe’s descent into chaos and murder.
One of 11 children, her parents had split up when she was 12 and she went to live with her alcoholic father in various squalid flats and even tents to evade social services.
Thorpe met Clarke, who was known as a bully among the street community and they formed an unlikely drinking pair.
The jury was told that Clarke and mother-of-two Rosalyn – also a member of the drinking group – had spent time at each other’s flats in Ipswich drinking in the run-up to the murder.
The court heard that Rosalyn, who at one time had a relationship with Clarke, had been killed after he blamed her for his dog attacking a child.
Paul Clarke carried out the brutal killings alongside Thorpe in 2009
Thorpe and Clarke lured the victim back to her flat in Victoria Street, Ipswich, and tortured her for two days, using a cheese grater on her skin and then rubbing salt into the open wounds to increase the pain.
The teenager was then said to have used Rosalyn as a ‘punch bag’ – stamping on her and snapping nine of her ribs before burning her hair and whipping her with a dog lead.
After days of torture their victim was still alive, so she was eventually beaten to death.
On 9 August 2009, a member of the public rang police to raise concerns about the safety of Rosalyn, and officers found her dead when they entered her property.
Days after the murder, the pair decided to murder Desmond Thorpe, in order to silence him from implicating them in the first murder to police.
Lorraine smothered her disabled father with a cushion before kicking him as he lay prone on the floor.
She later admitted to police that they would find ‘her trainer prints on his head’.
Desmond’s body was found by police on the morning of 10 August 2009, after they were told a man had died in Limerick Close, Ipswich.
His body was found only hours after the discovery of Rosalyn Hunt’s, and police immediately announced that they suspected the murders were linked and arrested both Clarke and Thorpe.
On 25 August 2009, they appeared in court charged with the murders.
Thorpe and Clarke both denied the charges, and gave no evidence during the trial.
Prosecution barrister Ros Jones said during the trial:’Rosalyn Hunt became a prisoner in her own home and died from multiple injuries due to the continuous attacks she suffered at their hands.
‘Desmond Thorpe, who was killed days later, had been smothered for reasons known only to Clarke and Thorpe.’
Rosalyn Hunt was tortured over days by the pair with psychologists saying they had never seen such a level of violence from a young girl
As part of the evidence against them, jurors heard evidence from a young friend of Thorpe’s who said that she had confessed to her to being a murderer.
A fellow inmate also testified that Thorpe had spoken about her father’s murder to them on the anniversary of his killing
A jury unanimously found them guilty of the double murders by majority verdicts of 10-2 after more than 17 hours of deliberations.
Judge Mr Justice Sweeney said that Thorpe had in part carried out the attacks as she had been keen to ‘impress’ Clarke.
In his sentencing remarks, Sweeney said:’She was responsible for protracted kicking, punching and stamping on Rosalyn, who was not fit to defend herself effectively from the outset.
‘By the end of those attacks she was completely helpless. Far from being sorry, Lorraine appears to have gloried in it, describing to her friends at one stage how she stamped on Rosalyn’s head…
‘The only possible explanation for his death (father) can be the fear that he would go and tell the police what happened to Rosalyn Hunt…
‘I don’t accept that she was entirely under the control of Mr Clark.
‘She is someone who can be quite stubborn and wilful and is capable of being highly manipulative herself… Her story is an appalling one.’
In 2019, in an episode of Britain’s Deadliest Kids, Consultant Forensic Psychologist Dr Keri Nixon tells the documentary: ‘She laughed about the level of violence they used against Rosalyn Hunt.
‘In my experience, I have never seen this level of violence, these types of injuries, enacted by a 15-year-old girl.
‘Usually, in cases like this, they will partake in some violence. But to be actively involved in such torturous activity, is incredibly rare.’
Rosalyn’s brother Adrian Provins attended the court hearings and was disgusted as Thorpe treated the deaths like a ‘big joke’.
He told the show: ‘The first time I went to court, all I remember is Lorraine Thorpe laughing and giggling to Paul Clarke as if it was all a big, big joke.
‘No one stopped her. I felt disgusted, I felt like I wanted to jump over and just rip her head off.’
Clarke was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 27 years.
In September 2014, Clarke was found dead in prison at HMP Whitemoor, Cambridgeshire. It is believed his death was suicide.
A Parole Board spokesperson said: We can confirm the parole review of Lorraine Thorpe has been referred to the Parole Board by the Secretary of State for Justice and is following standard processes.
‘Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.
‘A panel will carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims.
‘Members read and digest hundreds of pages of evidence and reports in the lead up to an oral hearing.
‘Evidence from witnesses such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing.
‘It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more. Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.’
The parole hearing for Thorpe, who is now 28, will last a day. A decision will be made a few week later.
The panel can reject her release on licence, but can recommend she be moved to an open jail.
DailyMail
