Four jailed for torturing woman with learning difficulties

FOUR people who subjected a woman with learning difficulties to a “sustained period of torture”, including branding her face with a hot iron, have been jailed.

Lisa Hill, Karl Cook, Mary Willoughby and Kelly Taylor held Louise Hewitt, who considered the four to be her friends, for several hours and repeatedly subjected her to brutal beatings.

Exeter Crown Court heard their “child-like” 26-year-old victim was also attacked with items including a wooden chair, a plant pot, a saucepan and a stiletto shoe because they believed she had been spreading gossip about Cook and Willoughby, who were in a relationship.