Spalding murders: Youngest couple convicted of murder sentenced to minimum of 20 years each

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A 15-year-old boy and girl have been sentenced to a minimum of 20 years for the murders of a mother and daughter, who were smothered and stabbed in the throat as they slept in their beds.

Elizabeth Edwards, who was 49 years old, and her 13-year-old daugher Katie were stabbed in the neck as they slept at home in April.

The teenage lovers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, went on to share a bath, have sex, and watch four Twilight vampire films after the murders in Spalding, Lincolnshire, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Sentencing the pair to life with 20-year minimum terms, Mr Justice Haddon-Cave said: "This case is, in many respects, without parallel."

Last month, a jury convicted the girl of the doulbe murder after she initially pleaded not guilty on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The prosecution alleged during the trial that she was "as guilty of murder" as the boy, although she did not physically take part in the killings.

The boy pleaded guilty to both murders 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.

In police interviews a day after her arrest, the girl said her boyfriend had knifed Ms Edwards through the voice box to ensure her daughter was not woken by screams or cries for help.

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, Spalding.

Post-mortem examinations found signs of defensive injuries on the older victim's hands, suggesting she had tried to fight off the boy, while her daughter had been stabbed twice in the neck.