Killer Children

This section is devoted to that rare but sad minority of children who for one reason or another are encouraged to commit murder. Child in this case denotes someone under the age of sixteen.

Name	Year of Murder	Method	Number of Murders	Age	Location
Baird, Doreen	1958	Strangulation	1	14	Sheffield
Bell, Mary Flora	1968	Strangulation	2	11	Newcastle
Bell, Norma Joyce	1968	Strangulation	2	13	Newcastle
Collins, Ciaran	1988	Suffocation	1	12	UK
Hulme, Juliet	1954	Brick	1	15	New Zealand
Hutchinson, Amy	1950	Poison	1	16	London
Jones, Harold	1921	Various	2	15	Wales
Kemper, Edmund	1964	Shot	2	15	California
Parker, Pauline	1954	Brick	1	16	New Zealand

Baird, Doreen

This was the very sad story of a child murdering another child. Of course murder at any time is a serious and upsetting business, When children are the victims it is dreadful to see such waste of young life. When the murder is actually committed by a child it is hard for anyone to understand.

Doreen Baird was a 14-year-old schoolgirl who was baby-sitting five children. One of the children, 16-month-old June Croft, was crying more than the others and it began to annoy Doreen so she tied a scarf around the child's neck to try and stop her crying. The child died a little while later of strangulation.

At her trial at Sheffield Assizes she pleaded diminished responsibility and medical evidence described her as emotionally immature and of low intellect. On 27 November 1958 she was found guilty of manslaughter and sent to an approved school.

Bell, Mary Flora

On the 25 May 1968 the residents of Newcastle were allowed to realise their worst fears when the body of 4 year old Martin
Brown was discovered in a derelict house in Newcastle. A massive police operation was launched but did not make very much
progress. A couple of days later there was a break in at a local nursery school. Compared to the murder it was a minor offence
but one that held a lot of significance. The police found four notes that had been scribbled in childish handwriting. One of the
notes referred to the murder

Two months later Brian Howe, aged three, was also found dead. He had been strangled and his body had numerous small cuts
on it. The police launched a massive investigation which involved questioning 1,200 children. Two of the girls, Norma Joyce
Bell, aged 13 and Mary Flora Bell, aged 11, (they were not related to each other), gave answers that were suspicious or
evasive. Each was questioned several times and changed their stories twice.

Eventually, each accused the other of 'squeezing' Brian Howe's throat and Mary accused Norma of making the cuts on his
body with a razor blade. Both girls were arrested on 5th August 1968 and, when the police explained to them that they were to
be charged with murder, Mary replied, That's all right by me. They were tried at Newcastle Assizes in December 1968, Mary
was very confident and self-possessed. Both girls admitted breaking into the school and writing the notes found there. After
nine days of evidence Norma, who had appeared confused and over-awed during the procedings, was found not guilty. Mary
was found guilty but her plea of diminished responsibility was accepted and so the charge was manslaughter and sentenced to
life detention and sent to a special approved school.

Ciaran Collins

Ciaran Collins was a boy of 12 who was charged with the murder of 2 year old Sharona Joseph after running away from a childrens home. He made himself a den on a railway embankment in Borehamwood. The following day he waited outside a community centre, when Sharona came out to play he led her away. They walked through the streets pausing to look in a pet shop. When they reached the embankment he forced her face into the undergrowth until she suffocated. Collins had then pulled off her tights and sexually assaulted her.

At the time of the murder he had at the time been in council care but had no history of violence. Amongst his belongings was a book entitled 'one was not enough' which was about multiple murders so perhaps he simply wanted to know what it would be like.

Police later when searching through his things found books of murder stories stolen from the library in his school desk. He was tried at Chelmsford

Crown Court and was found guilty of murder and abduction on the 26 October 1988 and sentenced to be detained at her Majestys Pleasure.

Jones,Harold

Jones was 15-years-old and worked as an assistant to a seed merchant in Abertillery. On 5th February 1921, 8-year-old,
Freda Burnell was sent on an errand to the seed merchant's and never seen alive again. Her partially strangled body was found
the next day near the shop. When she was examined it was concluded that she had died from shock and that an attempt had
been made to rape her. When the Police did a seaarch of the area they discovered a handkerchief belonging to the girl in a shed
at the back of the shop and Jones was arrested. He was tried at Monmouth Assizes and, to the disgust of the public was found
not guilty.

On July 8th, less than two weeks after the verdict, 11-year-old Florence Irene Little disappeared. Police immediately
suspected Jones and searched his house after they heard that the child had been seen near his home. Their suspisions were
found to be correct and they found her body in the attic. The girl had been sexually assaulted and had her throat cut. This time
when confronted Jones confessed to killing the girl and said he had done it because he had a 'desire to kill'.

Once again he appeared at Monmouth Assizes in November 1921 where this time he was found guilty. Because of his age he
could not be given life but was instead sentenced to be detained during His Majesty's Pleasure. He later made a statement in
which he confessed to the earlier killing.

Kemper, Edmund

Edmund Kemper was a strange child who seemed obsessed with death. When he was fifteen he was staying with his
grandparents on their ranch. His grandfather had given him a rifle to shoot rabbits. On one afternoon he was bored and so
picking up his gun he went to go outside. His grandmother who was sat at the table called after him not to shoot at the birds.
He turned around and from a distance of only a few feet he shot her in the back of the head. He fired into her body twice more.
He began to drag her body into the bedroom when he heard his grandfathers car draw up outside. As the old man got out of
the car Edmund Kemper lined up the gun and shot and killed him with a single bullet.

It was only now that he started to worry about what he had done. Picking up the phone he told his mother what he had done.
She told him to ring the police which he did. When questioned he was asked why he had done it, his answer was quite simply
he wanted to see how it felt to kill grandma. Edmund Kemper was never brought to trial but was sent to Atascadero State
Hospital for the criminally insane. He was released when the authorities thought he was cured but he was not cured though and when he was released soon took up where he left off. For more details

Hulme, Juliet & Parker, Pauline

It was a sensational case which rocked New Zealand in 1954. Juliet Hulme was a 15 year old schoolgirl who began a lesbian
relationship with her 16 year old friend Pauline Parker. It was such a strong friendship that when her parents took steps to
break them up it had disasterous consequences. Juliets father intended to take her to South Africa so Pauline made plans to go
with her. Knowing that her mother would not let her they decided to kill her.

On the 22 June 1954 they wrapped a half brick in a stocking and attacked Mrs Honora Parker striking her 45 times on the
head. They then told the police that she had fallen but this was not bourne out by the injuries. Another piece of damning
evidence was an entry in Paulines diary which stated 'We decided to use a brick in a stocking rather than a sandbag'. At the
trial in Christchurch New Zealand much was made of the girls lesbian relationship and they were referred to as 'dirty minded
little girls' they were both found guilty and sentenced to be Detained During her Majestys Pleasure.

They served their sentences in separate prisons and were both treated for psychiatric problems. They were both released after
serving four years.

Hutchinson, Amy

Amy was born in the Isle of Ely in 1733 to a poor family. She went to school up until the age of twelve when she was sent to work as a servant.

When she was sixteen she fell in love with a local lad but it never came to anything as he had to leave the area. Unexpectedly she then married a sickly old man by the name of John Hutchinson. By a strange twist of fate on the very same day that Amy married, the youth that she loved returned from London. Amy needed no other excuse and she decided to rid herself of her newly-acquired husband so that she could be with the love of her life. She laced the old man's beer with arsenic and he died within days.

Amy did not mourn her dead husband for very long and had soon taken up again with her former lover. Her lack of respect was soon noticed by the villagers and the gossip prompted made the authorities look closer at the circumstances of the old man's death. His body was exhumed and arsenic was discovered. Amy was tried, sentenced to death and confessed shortly before her execution. She was strangled to death and her body burned on 7th November 1750.