Edinburgh dinner lady murdered by teen daughter

THE daughter of a dinner lady from the Capital has been revealed as her killer after judges allowed her to be named.

Liz Edwards with daughter Katie Edwards who were both found dead in their house in Spalding. Picture; SWNS

Fifteen-year-olds Kim Edwards and Lucas Markham - believed to be Britain’s youngest double murderers - have previously been protected by an order banning their identification.

But three Court of Appeal judges in London have now lifted the prohibition, meaning it can now be reported that the couple’s victims were Edwards’ mother, dinner lady Elizabeth Edwards, from Edinburgh, and sister Katie.

The mother and daughter were stabbed in “brutal executions” as they slept at their home in Spalding, Lincolnshire, last April.

Over the course of the next 36 hours the “besotted” teenagers, then both 14, had sex, shared a bath and watched Twilight vampire films as they “revelled” after the killings.

Both were detained for life with minimum terms of 20 years last November by a judge at Nottingham Crown Court who said the case had “few parallels in modern criminal history”.

The restriction so far preventing their names being made public was overturned by Sir Brian Leveson, Mr Justice Blake and Mr Justice Lewis at the same time as they ruled that the minimum terms should be reduced to 17-and-a-half years.

Sir Brian announced that, as a result of the court’s decision, “the names of these two young people are now capable of being reported”, allowing the “full facts and circumstances” surrounding the case to be made public.

Describing it as an “exceptional case”, Sir Brian said Markham and Edwards “clearly became besotted with each other”. Both were unhappy in their respective homes.

Edwards held grudges against her mother and sister and Markham came to “share her grudges and hatred” towards them. They “jointly decided” to kill Edwards’ mother and her “entirely innocent” sister.

Sir Brian said the facts of the case “cannot be properly understood without identifying that the appellants murdered the mother and 13-year-old sister of Kim Edwards”.

No new material had been put before the court to “justify the conclusion that lifting anonymity would cause harm to either appellant”, and there was no evidence that reporting their identities would adversely affect their future rehabilitation.

He added: “The reality is that anonymity lasts only until 18 years of age and both appellants face a very considerable term of detention that will stretch long into their adult life.

“The process of reflecting on their dreadful crimes, addressing their offending behaviour and starting a process of rehabilitation will be a lengthy one.”

Markham, who admitted murder, used a kitchen knife to stab both victims in the neck. Edwards had denied murder. She claimed to be suffering an abnormality of mental function which impaired her ability to form rational judgments, but was found guilty after a trial.