Murderess, 16, kicked grandmother to death

Nicolle Earley had given a cigarette to Ann Gray, 63, on the understanding that she would receive two in return the next day.

She went to collect them, along with 5 she claimed to be due for doing the pensioner's shopping, but they argued and she pushed Mrs Gray to the floor in her home.

Earley then carried out a frenzied attack and repeatedly kicked and stamped on Mrs Gray's head and body. She fled and raised the alarm, pretending she had discovered the body.

Marks from the tread of the teenager's shoes had been imprinted on Mrs Gray's face, and eventually she confessed to the police.

Earley, now 18, of Crosshill, near Lochgelly, Fife, admitted murdering Mrs Gray, a widow and a grandmother of 13, on 14 November, 2008, at the pensioner's home in the same street.

She will be sentenced next month, and told the number of years she will have to serve under a life term before she can apply for parole. She was led from the dock of the High Court in Edinburgh to calls of "scum" and "monster" from the public benches.

Eleanor Wells, 40, Mrs Gray's daughter, said: "We just hope she is going to be made an example of. It has been a long year for us … waiting for things to move forward so we can move on."

The advocate-depute, Morag Jack, told the court that Earley had stayed with her grandmother, who lived in the same street as Mrs Gray. The two women had been friends for almost 40 years, and Earley often visited Mrs Gray's house.

"The deceased lived alone. She was well known in the village of Crosshill as someone who was sociable. After the death of her husband some years earlier, she regularly allowed young people to come into her house for a drink. She herself was a regular drinker," added Ms Jack.

Following the attack, Earley ran back to her grandmother's home and, in a hysterical state, said she had found Mrs Gray's house in darkness and had tripped over the pensioner lying covered in blood.

She said: "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'd better no get the blame of that."

An ambulance was called and paramedics declared Mrs Gray dead.

Earley maintained her story to the police, and she was interviewed initially as a "significant witness" in the case.

However, suspicion fell on her and she admitted kicking Mrs Gray several times.

Ms Jack said a number of injuries had been found by pathologists. Mrs Gray had suffered severe fractures to the cheek and jaw, and a dislocated wrist. There was a patterned shoe tread mark in blood on her back and parallel line bruising, the sort caused by a shoe tread, to the face.

"The pattern of injuries as a whole is indicative of a series of blows targeted to the face and neck. The presence of injuries to the hands may represent involvement in a scuffle but more likely represent injuries sustained in a defensive manner in attempting to ward off anticipated blows," said Ms Jack.

Defence solicitor-advocate Gordon Martin, said: "(Earley] deeply regrets her involvement in this. She knows these words will be scant consolation to Mrs Gray's family and friends, but she still wishes to express that."

GIRLS IN THE DOCK

NICOLLE Earley is one of the youngest girls in Scotland to have been convicted of murder, but she is not the first.

In 1995, a girl aged 14 was convicted of taking part in the murder of a gay man in a Glasgow park, and received a life sentence.

Later, the appeal court ruled that she had suffered a miscarriage of justice and the conviction was quashed.

In 2002, Gemma Valenti, 16, and her mother, Isabell Carvill, 36, murdered a man at a party in Blantyre, Lanarkshire.

Britain's youngest female murderer is believed to be Sharon Carr, of Camberley, Surrey, who in 1997, at the age of 12, stabbed a teenage hairdresser to death.

In 1991, Barbara Glover, 15, stabbed to death a fellow pupil in the playground of a Glasgow school. She was found guilty of murder and ordered to be detained without limit of time.