Lorraine Thorpe was fifteen years old when she would murder a woman and her father
According to court documents Lorraine Thorpe and Paul Clarke, 41, would torture and murder Rosalyn Hunt apparently over an argument about a dog
When Lorraine Thorpe and Paul Clarke would go back to her home and told her father what they had done the father mentioned calling the police so the pair would murder him as well
Lorraine Thorpe would be arrested, made a full confession to the double murder, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for thirteen years
Lorraine Thorpe Case
A woman who was believed to be Britain’s youngest female double murderer has been refused parole.
Lorraine Thorpe, of Ipswich, was 15 when she murdered her father Desmond Thorpe and a woman called Rosalyn Hunt in August 2009.
She was convicted and jailed in 2010 and told she would serve at least 14 years in prison.
The Parole Board said Thorpe, now 29, was deemed too great a risk to be released, or moved to an open prison.
Thorpe and her accomplice Paul Clarke, who died in prison in 2014, had repeatedly beaten and tortured Ms Hunt and then smothered Mr Thorpe, with their bodies found at separate flats.
Sentencing judge Mr Justice Saunders said Thorpe could be “manipulative” and was not acting entirely under Clarke’s control, adding: “She found violence funny and entertaining.”
He acknowledged her “appalling” circumstances, with Thorpe and her father living in “squalid” flats, and sometimes in tents, and spending all her time with middle-aged alcoholics.
“She has been left with no real understanding of what is right and what is wrong,” the judge said.
“To describe her upbringing as not being a proper upbringing would be an understatement, but it has left her as a violent young woman and a highly manipulative young woman as well.”
‘Risk factors’
A Parole Board report said Thorpe became eligible for parole in August but did not wish to engage with the process.
Risk factors at the time of her offending included her early life experiences and her misuse of drugs and alcohol, it added.
Thorpe had taken part in programmes to address her decision-making “to help her better understand her risk factors”, and completed work on her past misuse of drugs and alcohol.
“The panel considered there to be a need for further work in custody to address risk factors,” the report stated.
“It found that any release plan from probation would not be robust enough to manage Ms Thorpe in the community at this time.”
It added Thorpe would be eligible for a further parole review “in due course”.
Clarke, also of Ipswich, was 41 when he was sentenced for both murders alongside Thorpe and jailed for life with a minimum term of 27 years.
Both he and Thorpe denied the charges and offered no evidence at their trial.
In 2011, they both lost an appeal against their convictions for Mr Thorpe’s murder.
Ipswich double murderer Lorraine Thorpe refused parole
Lorraine Thorpe Parole Hearing 2026
Lorraine Thorpe, Britain’s youngest female double murderer, will not be released from prison.
She was just 15 years old when she killed her father, Desmond Thorpe, and Rosalyn Hunt in separate incidents in 2009.
Thorpe was convicted of taking part with 41-year-old Paul Clarke in the murders, and was told she would spend at least 14 years behind bars.
Ms Hunt, 41, was beaten to death in Ipswich over several days, with Thorpe responsible for kicking, punching, and stamping on her head.
Mr Thorpe, 43, a “vulnerable” alcoholic, was smothered amid fears he would tell police about the first murder.
The Parole Board said Thorpe, now 31, should not be released but can be moved to an open prison.
She became Britain’s youngest convicted female double murderer after the pair’s trial at Ipswich Crown Court in 2010.
Mary Bell, detained at the age of 11 in 1968 for the manslaughter of two boys aged three and four, remains the youngest female killer.
Sentencing judge Mr Justice Saunders said Thorpe could be “manipulative” and was not acting entirely under Clarke’s control, adding: “She found violence funny and entertaining.”
Clarke died in prison in 2014.
In a decision released on Tuesday, the Parole Board said Thorpe, who has spent all of her adult life in prison, needs to be tested in less restrictive prison conditions before she can be considered for release.
“After considering the circumstances of her offending, the progress made while in custody and the evidence presented at the hearing, the panel agreed that Ms Thorpe should not be released,” the board said.
The panel noted Thorpe’s “general maturation” and “the fact that she had not evidenced violence or aggression for many years”, adding that her “risk of violence towards others had reduced by her own actions in custody.”
She will be eligible for another parole review in the future.
