Child killers as a theme ranks highly in horror fiction because it is so absurd to perceive a young person as being so malevolent. Unfortunately, this story is anything but fiction.
Mary Bell was almost eleven years old when she strangled her first victim. She left some confession notes detailing what she had done for his family. Two months later, she killed and mutilated a three-year-old, Brian Howe.
Mary also tried to strangle other children and clarified that she had a desire to keep killing. Former FBI Profiler Candace Delong commented that female serial killers are much rarer than males, especially if they are as young as Mary was with her first victim.
Male serial killers also often start by harming animals before going on to people. Though she concluded that the progression to kill humans starts very quickly in female killers. This could be one of the reasons Mary started so early.
However, she was still a child, so Candace reiterated that though she knew she was killing a person, the reason why may have eluded her. Mary may also not have felt any guilt over her actions.
Who was Mary Bell?
Mary Flora Bell was born on May 26, 1957. Her mother, Betty McCrickett, was a 16-year-old sex worker at the time. She was so estranged from her baby that, upon seeing her, she told doctors to “take that thing away from me.”
Not much is known about Mary’s father. A man named Billy Bell became her stepfather when Mary was an infant. Billy regularly had run-ins with the law and was later jailed for armed burglary. The Bells lived in a slum in the West End of Newcastle.
At home, the dynamic was anything but loving. Betty was a mentally unstable alcoholic. Her profession also added to the problem. She also made it clear that she did not want or love Mary.
Family members even witnessed Betty attempting to murder Mary when she was still three years old. In Mary’s account to Sereny, she also described her mother as a sadomasochist. Mary revealed that men who visited their home as clients of her mother also sexually abused her.
When Mary was three years old, at her grandmother’s flat on the third floor, Betty’s brother witnessed her almost fall out of a window. At the time, Betty was holding Mary over a sink next to the open window. He managed to dash across the room and grab Mary by the ankles.
According to Mary’s statements after the crimes, her mother also used her for sex work from the age of four. Family members did not confirm this, but they were not surprised given the home situation.
Betty’s sister also witnessed her trying to give Mary away to a woman who had not had any luck adopting a child until then. It was the sister who quickly recovered Mary.
As a child, Mary also had several overdoses from taking pills. In almost all cases, her mother, Betty, administered them. In any case, it seemed impossible that a baby would know to access a narrow nook in a gramophone for pills. Even more so, that Mary would take so many of the horrible-tasting pills.
Family members did confirm, though, that Mary was also changed after she witnessed her five-year-old friend get run over by a bus. This was often considered to be one of the triggers that led her down darker paths, along with the sexual abuse, of course. It also retarded her ability to bond with others.
In school, her teachers said she was almost always naughty. Her teacher once saw Mary placing her hands around the neck of another child. When she was reprimanded, Mary asked, “Why, can it kill him?” The other kids also teased her because of her strange behaviour.
Mary kicked, hit, and pinched others and told lies constantly, according to her teachers. Betty was also a drama queen, according to these accounts. Researchers say she may have been suffering from Munchausen by Proxy syndrome because she thrived on the attention over her daughter’s incidents.
Developing an Obsession with Death
Weeks before the first murder, Bell was acting even stranger than usual. It was as if she were ramping up to commit the first murder. On May 11, she played with a three-year-old boy, and he was badly injured following a fall from the top of a shelter. It was written off as an accident. Mary would later admit that she pushed the child off the ledge.
The following day, Mary tried to strangle three young girls. One of the girls said that Mary put her hands around the neck and squeezed hard. Mary took her hands off and did the same to the other girls. Their mothers went to the police, and Mary was brought in for questioning. She was let off with a warning, but no charges were filed.
On the 25th, a day before Mary’s 11th birthday, she led four-year-old Martin Brown to an abandoned house in Scotswood. She convinced him they were playing a new game and strangled him to death.
She left his body and came back with her friend, Norma. Before then, three boys foraging for scrap wood had come across the boy’s body. Martin was on his back next to a window, with blood and saliva down the side of his cheek. The boys panicked and called out to construction workers outside.
The workers raced up the stairs and tried to revive Martin when they found his body, but it was too late by then. One of the foraging boys spotted the girls as they came back to the scene. Mary claimed that she brought Norma to show her that she killed Martin, but the workers told her to go away.
Mary and Norma then went to find Martin’s aunt and informed her of the accident. “I’ll show you where it is”, Mary told the distressed aunt.
At the scene, the police found no signs of a struggle. There was an open bottle of aspirin nearby, and they hypothesised that Martin could have just eaten them all before collapsing.
There were no signs of visible strangulation or any other bruises that would suggest violence. This ties in with later suggestions from forensic pathologist Janis Amatuzio, who indicated that it does not take much pressure at all to suffocate a child.
She reiterated that the younger a child is, the less pressure it would take to strangle them if consistent pressure is applied. Hence, there is a lack of strangulation marks or signs of a struggle.
The official report at the time determined the cause of death to be open. Rather than being relieved that she was cleared of all suspicion and lying low, Mary lurked around the scene and the victim’s relatives.
She and Norma gave Martin’s Aunt no rest. She said they kept asking if she missed Martin and if she cried for him. They were also always grinning. After a while, she could not stand it and told them not to come back.
Martin’s mother, June Brown, was also troubled by the girl’s behaviour. Mary often visited her and asked to see Martin. She would say that Martin was dead. At this, Mary would reply, “Oh, I know he’s dead. I wanted to see him in his coffin.” She was still smiling as she said that. June was speechless that a young girl would want to see such a sight and say those things.
This behaviour was not exclusive to the grieving family. The day after Martin’s death, Mary celebrated her birthday by trying to choke Norma’s little sister. It was her father who slapped her hands away.
On May 27, it was a Monday morning, and the teachers of the Day Nursery arrived to find the school had been turned over. The supplies were strewn everywhere, and cleaning materials were on the floor. There were four scribbled notes.
One of them read, “I murder so THAT I may come back”. The second one read, “WE did murder martain brown fuckof you bastard.” A third read, “Fuch off we murder. Watch out Fanny and Faggot.” The fourth read, “You are mice Y Becurse we murdered Martain Go Brown you Bete Look out THERE are Murders about By Fanny and auld Faggot you Screws.”
Police then took the notes to the station and filed them as a prank. Mary would later admit that she wrote the notes.
Mary also drew a picture in her notebook of a child in the same pose as the one Martin was found in. There was a bottle near the body with the word ‘Tablet’. The image and entry did not strike her teachers as odd, but she was the only student who seemed to be fixated on Martin’s death.
The teachers opted to install a new alarm at the nursery school. That week, Mary and Norma were caught red-handed trying to break in, but they denied doing it before. They were released to their parents, but a hearing date was set in Juvenile Court.
Days later, Mary attacked Norma at the sandpit in school. A boy witnessed Mary scratch and kick Norma in the eye. Mary also allegedly screamed that she was a murderer and pointed in the direction of the house where Martin was found.
Brain Howe’s Murder
In July, Mary visited the Howe household. She stated that she knew something about Norma that would get her in big trouble. She said Norma put her hands on Martin Brown and pressed before he dropped. She was not taken seriously.
Brain typically played close to home, and probably saw Mary as non-threatening. This trust created an opportunity for Mary, and she led him to a secluded area. She strangled him and left him at the derelict site.
Brain’s sister, Pat, became worried and began searching for him. Mary offered to help with the search and pointed to some large concrete blocks, saying he might be playing behind them. Norma later said that Mary wanted Pat to find him dead and have a shock.
Brian was found covered with purple weeds and grass. A pair of scissors lay nearby. His body had puncture marks on his thigh area, and his genitals had been partially skinned.
Inspector James Dobson recounted that Brian’s belly had been signed “M” with a razor blade. This cut was not immediately apparent, but it was discovered that someone had initially scribed “N”, but another person had changed it to “M”. This was attributed to a difference in handwriting or style.
Investigations Intensify
The discovery of Brian Howe’s body created an uproar, and a hundred detectives were assigned to the investigation.
Mary and Norma were immediate suspects because of their proximity to Brian, their strange behaviour, and their statements. In her initial interview, Norma was found to be excitable, while Mary was more calculated. Both girls were evasive when questioned, but it was established that they played with Brian on the day he died.
Mary said she remembered seeing a young boy playing with Brian and that she had seen the boy assaulting him. Mary also explained that the boy had scissors, which he used to cut off a cat’s tail. Mary accidentally implicated herself by mentioning scissors at the scene while trying to give a story about a boy who had attacked Brian the day he died.
Shortly after the boy’s body was found, Norma’s parents contacted detectives and told them their daughter wished to confess to her involvement in Brian’s death. Detective Dobson arrived at their home, gave Norma the formal cautions, and asked what she knew.
Norma said Mary had taken her to a place where she had laid Brian’s body. She confessed that Mary showed her how she strangled the boy to death. She also described how Mary inflicted the marks on Brian’s stomach. Norma led the police to the crime scene and the place where the razor blade was hidden.
The police visited Mary at her home next and noted she was very defensive. She told detectives, “You’re trying to brainwash me. I will get a solicitor to get me out of this.”
That day, Norma was questioned again. This time, she admitted to being present when Mary strangled Brian. In this account, she said Mary pushed the child onto the grass. Mary strangled him to the point that she said, “My hands are getting thick, take over.”
Forensics showed that the grey fibres on Brian’s body were a match for the dress Mary was wearing that day. The maroon fibres on Brian’s shoes also matched those in a skirt owned by Norma. This placed both of them at the crime scene.
According to Detective Dobson, when Brian was buried, Mary was standing in front of the Howe family’s house when the coffin was brought out. She was laughing and grinning. He thought, “My God, I’ve got to bring her in, she’ll do another one.”
The trial of Mary and Norma Bell
Mary and Norma were then held in custody for 4 months before trial. They underwent psychiatric evaluations and many interviews to gather evidence.
On December 5th, 1968, the two were brought to trial. It would last nine days and gain significant media attention. Both of them were charged with murder and pleaded not guilty.
The case was presided over by Judge Cusack, who waived the defendant’s right to anonymity due to their age. The media were allowed to publicise their names and images.
The prosecution linked the murders of Brian Howe and Martin Brown. Norma testified in her own defence. She denied being involved in the actual murders of both children. She did admit that Mary had a tendency to violence and that they both discussed killing small children.
When questioned if Mary knew how children could be killed, she nodded. Norma testified that Mary started to attack and strangle Brian Howe. She also admitted not alerting the boys who were nearby because she did not know what was going to happen. Mary stopped hurting the boy when the boy got closer.
Mary also testified in her defence. She denied Norma’s accusations and insisted that while she did observe Martin’s body, she did not harm him. She also said that she and Norma asked to see Martin’s body as part of a dare between them.
When questioned about Brian Howe, Mary put it on Norma, saying it was she who strangled the child. She claimed she had been standing, looking at the time. Mary claimed that she knew the amount of force Norma was using because her fingertips were turning white.
Mary’s family was also present during the proceedings. Her mother was hysterical and often disrupted the proceedings with wailing. Her father sat quietly, ignoring his wife’s protests.
After the testimony of the children, Dr Robert Orton, the designated psychiatrist, testified that the girl had to be regarded as suffering from psychopathy. She lacked empathy and acted on impulse.
Judge Cusack considered the concept of diminished responsibility. A convicted individual had to be handled differently if it was found that they had an abnormality of thought. The jury returned and gave a verdict of not guilty for Norma on Manslaughter. They gave Mary a guilty verdict for Manslaughter.
Judge Cusack pronounced a sentence of Detention for Life. Mary was housed at the Red Bank Special Unit from February 1969 to November 1973.
Escape and Rearrest
In 1976, though, Mary was transferred to Moor Court open prison and did a secretarial course. In September 1977, she and another inmate escaped.
Inspector John Reynolds stated there was no organised search. Despite the escape making headlines, he reassured that Mary Bell was not considered dangerous at the time. She was just a missing 20-year-old from an open prison.
Both of them spent days with some young men in Blackpool, visiting the local sights, and sleeping in local Hotels. At the time, she used the alias Mary Robinson. She also dyed her hair blonde as a disguise. Bell was re-arrested at the home of one of the men, Clive Shirtcliffe. As a result of her absconding, Mary lost prison privileges for 4 weeks.
Freed after 12 Years
Mary was released on May 14, 1980, after seemingly reforming. According to her probation officer, she had made herself into two people for her sake. She managed to get a job at the local nursery, but the probation officers found it highly inappropriate.
Mary took minimum-wage jobs and tried to attend university, but did not stick with it. She met a man and fell pregnant. The court still deemed her a ward of the state at the time, and there was some contention over whether she would be a fit mother for the child.
Mary insisted that she had reformed and that whatever version she had been as a child had worked its way out of her system. Her daughter did not know about her mother’s past until 1998, when the media discovered her residence. This left her with no choice but to leave and seek anonymity.
Mary did win a High Court order granting her and her daughter anonymity in 2003. This would also be extended to her granddaughter.
Mary has since lived under a series of pseudonyms and moved many times to avoid social scrutiny. She may still be alive, but maintains a private life.
