10-Year-Old Girl Turns into Serial Killer
It’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to hurt and kill other people, especially if the victim is a child. But what if a child is a murderer? Here is the strange and horrifying case of Mary Bell.
The Murders She Committed
As a child, she was aggressive to other children and manipulative. But that wasn’t all. In 1968, when she was 10 years old, she strangled four-year-old Martin Brown to death. He was later found by a few children in the abandoned house that she killed him in. His cause of death was originally undetermined and considered an accident, despite Mary Bell’s suspicious behavior, because no marks were obvious on his body and a bottle of pills was found near him.
Later on, Mary and a friend, Norma, broke into a building and left notes claiming guilt for the murder, but police dismissed the notes as a disturbing prank.
A couple of months later, Mary and Norma strangled another young boy to death. Brian Howe, three years old, was found with an “M” carved into his chest, his hair cut, and his body and genitals mutilated by scissors. The police noted that a lack of force used suggested that the killer might have also been a child.
The police spoke to Mary and Norma, who were showing abnormal interest in the cases and knew details about the killings that hadn’t been released to the public. Mary initially tried to claim she saw a small boy near the scene and time of the murder but the police knew she was lying, and the two girls eventually admitted to being present at the time of the murders, each trying to blame the other. In the trial, Norma was found to have been unwillingly coerced by Mary and was acquitted. Bell was found guilty of manslaughter, rather than murder because she exhibited symptoms of psychopathy and therefore was thought to have diminished responsibility. The prosecutor told the court that she murdered the boys “solely for the pleasure and excitement of killing.” She was seen as a danger to other children and was given an indefinite sentence.
Some Quotes from Young Mary Bell
“Murder isn't that bad, we all die sometime anyway.”
“I like hurting little things that can't fight back.”
“Brian Howe had no mother, so he won't be missed.”
''I murder so that I may come back.''
What would drive a young child to commit such crimes?
Mary’s childhood was almost certainly the driving force behind her violence. Her mother, Elizabeth “Betty” Bell, was 16 years old when she had Mary. Betty was mentally and physically abusive, often absent, and tried multiple times to rid herself of the child. Mary had fallen out of a window and consumed sleeping pills but the events were considered accidents. The mother also tried unsuccessfully to give her away.
Betty never seemed to express any love towards her child, and after her birth showed disgust for Mary and asked for her to be taken away. Mary’s father was gone and Betty’s boyfriend was a criminal for a living and went in and out of prison.
Mary claimed that her mother, who was a sex worker, used Mary for sex work when she was just four or five years old. And after the murders, Betty sold stories about her and made money claiming to have letters written by Mary. It was clearly a very painful and abusive environment to grow up in. She had no stable or responsible parental figure and grew up in a bad neighborhood. When she was five, Mary also witnessed the death of one of her friends who was hit by a bus.
The events of her early childhood left her empty, angry, and cold. Before committing the murders, Mary was known to act strange and violently. She had non-fatally strangled and hurt other children but was let off the hook after some lecturing.
After all, who would just assume that a child is capable of serious violence and murder?
What Happened During Her Sentence
Mary was initially sent to the Red Bank secure unit, a juvenile detention center until she was transferred to Moore Court open prison six years later. She briefly escaped in 1977, but wasn’t considered dangerous by authorities and was soon found and returned.
There is a rumor of mistreatment during her sentence but nothing has been confirmed.
What is Mary Bell doing now?
Does Mary deserve more time for the crimes she committed or should she be forgiven and allowed to live in peace? Should she be held guilty at all for the murders she did when she was young? The questions are controversial and people strongly disagree with the answers.
Mary Bell was released after 12 years and began to live in the community with a new identity given to her by court order and protected by the state. Despite this, media reporters and the public continued to find her, forcing her to move multiple times. She had a daughter in 1984 and at some point, a granddaughter and they continue living in anonymity somewhere in the UK.
A biography was written about Mary Bell in 1998 called Cries Unheard: Why Children Kill by Gitta Sereny. A documentary, “The Mary Bell Case,” was released in the same year. The book was controversial because Bell received some money from telling her story, but Sereny defends her actions of giving Mary the fee and claims that Mary feels guilt for what she did as a child.
There is debate on whether or not Bell should be considered responsible for the murders or if her upbringing is an acceptable excuse for her actions. Some feel sympathy for Mary while others feel more for the boys and their families. Maybe the blame should be placed on Mary’s mother instead. The only undeniable truth is that this is a complicated case without easy moral judgment for Mary Bell.