A TEENAGE girl gave a harrowing account of the fatal beating she and a friend dealt a vulnerable woman - but said she thought the victim would survive as there were only three ways a person could die.

The girls, who were just 13 and 14 at the time, savagely assaulted six stone alcoholic Angela Wrightson, 39, and despite discussing that she might be dying they did nothing to help her.

The older girl - now 15 - told a court today (Thursday, March 10): "When I was 14 I thought you could only die if you got cancer or shot in the head or stabbed in the heart. That is what I thought."

She described to Leeds Crown Court how she and her friend systematically battered Ms Wrightson at her home in Hartlepool on December 8, 2014.

The girls went to Ms Wrightson's home to drink cider. The elder girl was also high on strong painkillers supplied by her mother.

Dressed in jeans and a black top, the girl described to the jury how an argument began when Ms Wrightson told her she would spend her whole life in care.

She told the court: "(Younger girl) told me to pick up a table with her. I got hold of two legs and she got the other two. We hit Angie with it, it was in her face or summat, we hit her twice I think.

"I started crying because I was getting wound up and I started flinging stuff. (Younger girl) was saying she deserved it."

She said the younger girl found a wooden stick studded with screws and began hitting Ms Wrightson about the head as she slumped on her settee.

Mr Wrightson tried to get up but the younger girl pushed her over and she fell hitting her head.

The girl said: "When she was on the floor I kicked her in the face twice and in her belly.

"Then (younger girl) did it a couple of times and shouted at me to do it again so I kicked her in the belly.

"Younger girl was kicking her in the face and stamping on her but I don't know how many times."

The assault continued using a TV, vase, picture and printer.

The older girl said she then showed some mercy to Ms Wrightson by wiping blood from her face and hands.

The girls then left the house and went to see a friend, before going back to Ms Wrightson's house on the town's Stephen Street.

"Her head was all split on the top and her face was full of blood," the older girl said.

"She started saying stuff, she was mumbling and (younger girl) said 'when you're dying you have flashbacks to things that have happened.

"I got a bit scared ... but I didn't think she was going to die."

Asked how she felt about Ms Wrightson's death, she answered: "I dunno, I think about hurting myself loads and trying to kill myself. I think about that night, I will see blood up the wall and my hands get sweaty."

Both girls deny murder. The trial continues.