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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
John Siddle

UK's youngest female murderer could be locked up forever after plotting to kill inmate

The youngest female ­murderer in Britain could be locked up for ever after a court heard she plotted to kill another inmate.

Sharon Carr – dubbed the Devil’s Daughter – lost a legal bid for cushier conditions after her sick fantasies emerged.

And tonight crime ­campaigners call for the ­authorities to “throw away the key”.

Carr is ­serving life for the knife ­killing, when she was only 12, of a teenage ­hairdresser nearly three decades ago.

Katie Rackliff (PA)

She had begged judges for a relaxation of her ­“restricted ­prisoner” status, which sees her often kept in solitary.

But it was thrown out after it was discovered she dreamed of splitting open another lag’s head and hurling her down stairs.

The High Court ruled people would be at risk if Carr, now 40, was moved to softer surroundings.

And she was denied permission to appeal – meaning she faces being locked up indefinitely.

In his judgment Mr Justice Julian Knowles said there was “no convincing evidence” that the risk Carr posed to the public “had significantly reduced”.

He wrote she had “thoughts of wanting to murder another ­resident by splitting her head open and throwing her down the stairs to snap her neck, whilst also being involved in an altercation with another resident with whom she had been in a relationship”.

Carr picked on Katie Rackliff, 18, at random in Farnborough, Hants, in 1992, stabbing her 32 times.

Katie’s parents Joseph and Helen spoke at a press ­conference after the savage attack.

Katie Rackliff's dad Joseph and mum Helen (Daily Mirror)

Two years later Carr struck in Camberley, Surrey, ­attacking a girl with a knife.

While in a young offender institute for that crime she bragged of killing Katie and was ­convicted in 1997.

In a diary she had written: “I wish I could kill you again. Your screams turn me on.”

Another diary entry read: “I’m a killer. Killing is my business. Business is good.”

And a third revealed: “Every night I see the Devil in my dreams but I realise it was just me.”

Carr claimed her rights were breached when prison bosses
decided in a private meeting not to relax her conditions at HMP Bronzefield, Surrey.

Her lawyers said she should have been present at the hearing. But judge Mr Justice Knowles said her case for a review was “not arguable”.

Katie’s mum campaigned for her to stay locked up.

Rights crusader Lynne Baird, 63, whose son Daniel, 26, was murdered in 2017, said: “I don’t doubt Carr would kill again if she had the means.

"The best thing to do would be to throw away the key.”

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