A young mother and her partner were jailed for life yesterday for murdering her four-year-old daughter, who was beaten so badly that her injuries could have been sustained in a traffic accident.

Leticia Wright used to stand at her bedroom window, trying to attract passers-by, but her virtually lifeless body was discovered bruised and naked, with more than 100 wounds. She died the following morning.

Sharon Wright, 23, and Peter McKenzie-Seaton, 22, were found guilty of murder at Bradford Crown Court. Both were ordered to serve a minimum of 23 years in jail before being considered for parole.

The child’s plight had briefly come to the attention of the social services but she was no longer under their care when paramedics found her on the living room floor of her home in Almondbury Bank, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, on November 18.

Mr Justice Walker said that the couple were undoubtedly involved in the abuse together and each had a hand in the biting, burning and branding. The child had been subject to “deliberate and grotesque cruelty”.

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