How Britain's youngest ever couple convicted of murder hatched their plan in a McDonald's
The pair sat eating ice cream and watching Twilight in their victims' home minutes after carrying out the killings
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Britain’s youngest ever couple to be convicted of murder sat in a McDonalds branch and hatched a deadly plan to kill a woman and her daughter four days before stabbing them as they slept.
The two 14-year-olds plotted their meticulous plan after agreeing to carry out the murders of Katie Edwards and her mother Elizabeth because of a ‘grudge’ against the daughter. After the killings they stayed in the victims’ house for 36 hours, taking a bath together to wash off the blood, helping themselves to ice cream and watching the Twilight films.
The pair had planned to kill themselves after the attack, leaving police to ‘find four bodies’ but did not go through with it.
The boy had previously pleaded guilty to murder, while his girlfriend only admitted manslaughter but was today found guilty of murder.
Here are the events that led up to and followed the brutal murders of Katie and Elizabeth Edwards at their home in Spalding, Lincolnshire.
Monday April 11
During a conversation in the back garden of a property in Spalding, the teenage couple map out a plan to stab the victims and then share a bath to clean off "inevitable" blood. They also plan to take their own lives after the killings.
Wednesday April 13
At about midnight Elizabeth and Katie Edwards are attacked by the male defendant in their beds. The older victim is stabbed and smothered first in a killing said by his girlfriend to have lasted for around 10 minutes. Schoolgirl Katie is then killed in her own room by the boy, moments after he asked his girlfriend if she wanted to go through with the plan.
Friday April 15
Police force entry to 5 Dawson Avenue and find the victims dead in their beds. Both defendants, then aged 14, are later arrested on suspicion of murder.
Saturday April 16
The 14-year-old girl makes full admissions to police, giving them a step-by-step account of the murders and their planning. The girl tells two detectives the plan was fully agreed between her and her boyfriend: "We made sure we were both definitely OK with it and he continuously asked me if I still wanted to go through with it and I said 'yes'. We went over the plan over and over again."
Sunday April 17
Both teenagers are charged with two counts of murder.
Tuesday September 6
The defendants both admit manslaughter but plead not guilty to murder.
Monday October 10
The boy, now aged 15, admits murder at Nottingham Crown Court and is remanded in custody awaiting sentence at the end of his former girlfriend's trial.
Prosecutor Peter Joyce QC then tells the court that the girl accepts that although the boy stabbed the victims, she is equally responsible for the murders, having planned them and helped to carry them out.
Mr Joyce tells jurors the only issue in the case is whether the girl has a defence of diminished responsibility.
Wednesday October 18
The girl, also now aged 15, is found guilty of murder after jurors reject evidence that she was mentally ill at the time of the killings.