A “STUBBORN and highly manipulative” teenager will serve a minimum of 14 years behind bars for the brutal killings of her father and an alcoholic woman.

Lorraine Thorpe was sentenced by Mr Justice Saunders at the Old Bailey yesterday following the murders of her father and Rosalyn Hunt.

But the court heard it was acknowledged that the 16-year-old had loved and cared for her alcoholic father, Des.

Thorpe, of Clapgate Lane, Ipswich, was convicted last month of the two murders, along with her boyfriend Paul Clarke, 42, of Mountbatten Court, Ipswich, who is serving a minimum 27-year jail term.

Ms Hunt, 41, of Victoria Street, Ipswich, died some time between August 1 and 10 last year after being tortured over a period of time.

During various assaults she had been whipped with a dog chain, beaten, had her hair set alight, had a cheese grater used on her and salt rubbed in her wounds.

Mr Thorpe died at a friend’s flat in Limerick Close, Ipswich, on August 10. He was smothered with a cushion because he threatened to tell police how Ms Hunt died.

Graham Parkins QC, representing Lorraine Thorpe, said his client had led a chaotic lifestyle since she was 12, after her parents’ marriage split up and she became involved in her father’s world of drinking.

Although Lorraine Thorpe suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Mr Parkins added she was a bright and talented girl.

Mr Justice Saunders spoke at length about the teenager’s upbringing, which he said was one no child should have. However, he also said she was “capable of being highly manipulative, wilful and stubborn.”

Regarding Thorpe’s relationship with her father, the judge said: “By the time of his death, he was a hopeless alcoholic, unable to walk unaided, unable to do anything for himself.

“She (Lorraine) did more and more for him – doing the most intimate things for him that no child should have to do. All the evidence shows they loved each other very much.

“Her story is an appalling one. She moved from one squalid flat to another, sometimes living together (with Mr Thorpe) in a tent. She was spending all her time with middle-aged alcoholics to whom violence had become the norm.

“No one who heard the evidence in this case could doubt for a moment that she has had immense difficulties in her life.

“She had been left with no real understanding of what is right and what is wrong. She found violence funny and entertaining.”

Regarding Ms Hunt’s murder, the court was told Lorraine Thorpe was responsible for kicking, punching and, most likely, stamping on Ms Hunt, an alcoholic, who was not fit to defend herself when it started, and was even less capable of resistance as the attacks continued.

Mr Justice Saunders added: “Far from being sorry for what she had done, Lorraine seems to have gloried in it.”