Care agencies role in run-up to slaughter by Britain’s youngest double murderers to be investigated
Lovers, who cannot be named, butchered dinner lady Elizabeth Edwards, 49, and daughter Katie, 13, in their beds
THE role of care agencies in the run-up to the slaughter of a girl and her mum by Britain’s youngest double murderers is being probed.
A Serious Case Review was announced ahead of the knife killers — vampire fans aged 14 — being sentenced next month.
The Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children's board has announced it is to review whether victim Katie Edwards was seen by care agencies and if those services were adequate.
It will also look at the murderers and the mother of Katie for the same reasons.
Chair of the Lincolnshire Safeguarding Children Board, Chris Cook, said: "Our sympathies are very much with friends and families who have been devastated by this tragic event.
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"We can confirm that a Serious Case Review has been commissioned into this case.
"We can't comment further until the review has been completed, when the findings will be published."
At the week-long trial a court heard how the girl and her boyfriend, who is also now 15, met in McDonald’s to plan their murder.
As they broke into the house in Spalding, Lincs, he was carrying a backpack full of kitchen knives.
The boy straddled sleeping Liz in her bed and twice stabbed her in the throat with an eight-inch blade then smothered her.
He then moved into Katie’s room and murdered her in the same way. The killers stripped and had a bath together to wash off the blood.
They spent 36 hours in the house watching the Twilight saga, drinking and eating ice cream before police found them.
The girl, who had admitted manslaughter but denied murder, gave a sickeningly detailed account of the murders in her police interview.
She said she initially stayed outside Liz’s bedroom during her murder but added: “I went in to see what was happening because I heard noises and stuff and wanted to check if he was OK.
“Because I heard her like gurgling, I went to check. He was on top of her. He had a pillow over her face.
“There was a little bit of blood splattered on the wall, like four drops — and there was a lot of blood on the bed and some on the floor.”
The court heard the killers had originally intended that the girl would murder Katie and the boy kill Liz.
But she told police he had killed both because she “lacked the mental and physical strength”.
Prosecutor Peter Joyce said the girl had later admitted being “sad” about the killings — but added: “It was ‘sad’ as if she was talking about a goldfish or a hamster.”
He said the girl’s “sheer brutality and utter contempt oozed from every pore” during interviews.
A psychiatric report for the defence said the girl suffered from “anxious avoidance detachment disorder” due to a troubled relationship in her early years.
Child psychiatrist Dr Indranil Chakrabarti said this meant she could not connect properly with anyone later in life.
But prosecution experts rubbished the claims. The girl told them she felt “excited” about killing. She said: “I was carrying on as normal at school. I was looking forward to it." leading to comparisons with Moors murderer Myra Hindley.