Teenagers who murdered mother and daughter due to be sentenced

A judge is due to sentence a teenage couple who murdered a mother and daughter in a "senseless and unprovoked" knife attack.

The schoolgirl and her boyfriend, both aged 15, face automatic life sentences for killing Elizabeth Edwards and her 13-year-old daughter Katie Edwards.

A five-day trial at Nottingham Crown Court heard that both killers were aged just 14 when they planned and carried out the killings "to the letter" at the victims' home in Spalding, Lincolnshire.

The girl was found guilty of two counts of murder last month after jurors rejected her claim of diminished responsibility, while her boyfriend pleaded guilty on the first day of the trial.

At the start of the trial, prosecutor Peter Joyce QC said the victims were stabbed a total of 10 times in a "cold, calculated and callous" pre-planned attack.

Police found the bodies of Ms Edwards and her daughter on April 15 this year when three officers forced their way into their house in Dawson Avenue in Spalding.

Post-mortem examinations found signs of defensive injuries on the older victim's hands.

The defendants, who cannot be named because of their age, are due to be sentenced by Mr Justice Haddon-Cave.