Britain's youngest female double-murderer, who subjected a woman to horrific torture including using a cheese grater and pouring salt into wounds, is set for a new parole hearing in 2026. Lorraine Thorpe was just fifteen years old when she committed the brutal murders in Suffolk back in 2009, alongside her accomplice Paul Clarke, who was then aged forty-one.
Parole Process and Previous Refusal
Thorpe, now thirty-one years old, received a life sentence with a minimum tariff of fourteen years following her conviction at the Old Bailey in London in 2010. She completed that minimum term in August 2023, thereby becoming eligible for parole consideration. However, in the same year, her initial application was refused after authorities deemed her too great a risk to be released or even transferred to an open prison facility.
Notably, Thorpe did not engage with the parole process during that first review. A spokesperson for the Parole Board has confirmed that an oral hearing has now been scheduled for February 2026. The hearing will be conducted in private, with a decision expected within fourteen days of its conclusion.
'Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community,' the spokesperson stated, outlining the strict criteria governing such reviews.
The Gruesome Murders of 2009
The court heard harrowing details during Thorpe's seven-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court, where she was jointly convicted with Clarke. Their first victim, forty-one-year-old Rosalyn Hunt, endured days of torture and beatings at a flat in Mountbatten Court, Ipswich. Thorpe was directly responsible for punching, kicking, and stamping on Ms. Hunt's head.
The brutality escalated as a cheese grater was rubbed into Ms. Hunt's face until she bled, salt was poured into the open wounds, and her hair was set alight with a lighter. Police discovered her body on August 9, 2009, after a member of the public raised safety concerns. A postmortem examination revealed she died from a heavy blow to her neck and chest, had nine broken ribs, and sustained multiple external injuries.
A Father Betrayed
Merely days after this murder, Thorpe turned on her own father, forty-three-year-old Desmond Thorpe. Fearing he would reveal details of Ms. Hunt's death to the police, she smothered him with a cushion. The court heard that Mr. Thorpe, described as a 'vulnerable' alcoholic, was also kicked as he lay on the ground. Thorpe later admitted to police that they would find her trainer prints on his head.
His body was found on the morning of August 10, 2009, in Limerick Close, Ipswich, following a tip-off. Thorpe and Clarke were arrested immediately, with police suspecting the deaths were linked.
Background and Relationship with Clarke
The court learned that Thorpe's life had been unstable from a young age. After her parents split when she was twelve, she lived with her father, moving between squalid flats and even tents. It was during this period that she met Paul Clarke, a known street bully in Ipswich, and the pair began drinking together.
They appeared in court charged with both murders on August 25, 2009. Throughout the trial, both denied the charges and offered no evidence in their defence.
Prosecution and Sentencing
Prosecution barrister Ros Jones told the court, 'Rosalyn Hunt became a prisoner in her own home and died from multiple injuries due to the continuous attacks she suffered at their hands. Desmond Thorpe, who was killed days later, had been smothered for reasons known only to Clarke and Thorpe.'
Jurors heard from a friend of Thorpe's to whom she had confessed to being a murderer. A fellow inmate also testified that Thorpe had spoken about her father's murder on the anniversary of his death. After over seventeen hours of deliberation, the jury returned majority verdicts of 10-2, finding both guilty of the double murders.
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Mr Justice Sweeny stated, 'She [Thorpe] was responsible for protracted kicking, punching and stamping on Rosalyn, who was not fit to defend herself effectively from the outset. By the end of those attacks she was completely helpless. Far from being sorry, Lorraine appears to have gloried in it... The only possible explanation for his death (father) can be the fear that he would go and tell the police what happened to Rosalyn Hunt.'
The judge added, 'I don’t accept that she was entirely under the control of Mr Clarke. She is someone who can be quite stubborn and wilful and is capable of being highly manipulative herself... Her story is an appalling one.'
Paul Clarke was jailed for life with a minimum term of twenty-seven years. He died aged forty-six after being found unconscious at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire on September 1, 2014.
As the 2026 parole hearing approaches, the case continues to highlight profound questions about rehabilitation, risk assessment, and justice for the victims of these exceptionally violent crimes committed by one of Britain's youngest female murderers.
