Child Murderer
It was one of the most notorious crimes in British history. It was not only vicious and gory but it was carried out by someone you would never expect: an 11-year-old child.
Mary Bell's story will be told here. It's also the narrative of how her assassinations affected the families of Newcastle, her birthplace, and what the authorities did about the 11-year-old killer.
Peaceful Living
Newcastle was a quaint little town in Northern England. The neighbors were all kind to one another, children could safely play outside and nothing ever bad happened in this peaceful town.
Mary Bell and Martin Brown were two children that lived in the small town of Newcastle. Martin had a pleasant upbringing. Everybody loved his family and his family loved him. However, Mary was not as lucky.
Difficult Childhood
Mary's story was far from a fairytale. Mary's mother was sixteen years of age when she gave birth to Mary while working as a teenage prostitute. She never met her real father and she did not feel like her mother loved her.
Mary had to deal with a lot of physical and emotional abuse. If things could not get any worse, she witnessed her best friend die. Mary was deeply traumatized by the events and she had to grow up earlier than the rest of her classmates. Her differences would one day be the cause of unspeakable events.
Accusations
Mary was around when her toddler neighbor fell down the stairs in 1968/ This raised a lot of suspicions. Soon after, mothers at the school began accusing her of choking their children while they were playing outside.
Initially, these events might have appeared to be a fluke or a fixable aspect of Mary's personality. But that was just the start.
The Beginning
Shortly after the events occurred, Martin Brown was pronounced dead. It was alleged that he went out to play with friends and never came home. When they found his body, his face was smeared with blood and they found painkillers next to him.
A unsettling incident occurred at Martin's nursery school a few days later. His classroom had been wrecked. The cops discovered two handwritten notes that was crucial in the investigation.
Prank
The notes had “We did murder, Martin Brown" and “I murder so that I may come back” written in them.
The investigators were stunned. The cops decided that the children were playing a prank and ruled Martin's death as an accident. However, they would subsequently learn how incorrect they were.
Odd Question
Just before Martin's funeral, Mary Bell visited the Brown family. She asked his parents if she could play with Martin. Tears welled up in their eyes as they informed her of their son's death.
Mary then clarified, saying she wasn't asking because she wanted to spend with Martin. She was well aware that he was no longer alive. She, on the other hand, wanted to view his body. Martin's parents were appalled and advised her to leave. Mary Bell's heinous crimes, however, were far from over.
Another Death
Weeks have passed since the death of Martin Brown. One unfortunate morning, news came out that 3-year old Brian Howe had disappeared. His demise took place in especially gruesome circumstances.
His hair had been hacked off in chunks and his body had been mangled. The letter M was carved into his chest. His sister found his poor little body and was terrified. However, one element about the discovery revealed a disturbing fact about the crimes.
Laughter
Brian's sister was aided by Mary Bell. Without her, who would've known how long it would've taken for his body to be discovered. The young lady had offered to assist and appeared to know precisely where the body was located.
During Brian's funeral, Mary Bell was spotted laughing. However, the truth would not be revealed until she was asked to testify by the authorities.
Confession
When asked about her odd attitude toward the murder, Mary gave a strange statement: she tried to divert the subject by accusing another student of the crime. However, that child had already been questioned by the police, and he had an alibi: he was at the airport when the crime was committed.
After a few hours of questioning, a schoolmate of Mary's told the police what really happened. Mary pretended that the girl was lying but she finally confessed to her heinous deeds.
Mary’s Sentence
The 11-year-old girl was acquitted of manslaughter. However, she didn’t receive an ordinary sentence, on account of her age and a diagnosis of psychopathy. She was then ‘detained at her Majesty’s pleasure’.
At that time in the UK, that meant that she was imprisoned until the Queen herself deemed her to be ready to get out. After 12 years in jail, at the age of 23, Mary was free. What would her behavior be on the street?
Mary’s Life After Prison
A lot of people in the UK had that same question in their minds. Maybe that was the reason why the government decided to give her a new identity when she was released from jail.
The justice thought that the victim’s family or some irate citizen might decide to take justice in their own hands.
Hidden From The Public
For that reason, little is known about whatever happened to Mary Bell after her release. Only a few minor details have been made public.
It’s known that Mary had a daughter, born exactly 16 years after her first murder. At one point, she and her daughter were tracked down by an investigative reporter. Mary Bell seemed to be unable to avoid the public eye.
What Mary’s Daughter Didn’t Know
Her daughter was, for some years, unaware of her mother’s past and of the reason why they had to be constantly moving towns and dodging reporters.
But at one point, it became too much to handle. Reporters were following Mary Bell everywhere, surrounding her house with vans and cameras. Eventually, Mary Bell had to tell her daughter about her past. About who she was and what she had done.
Lifelong Anonymity
In 2003, however, Mary Bell decided to undertake legal actions. Her legal anonymity was about to expire. Had that happened, she would have to endure a lifelong of media harassment. There was also the possibility of being subject to mob justice.
In order to avoid that, Mary Bell launched a successful campaign to get lifelong legal anonymity for her and her family. Which would mean that nobody on the street or on the institutions would ever know who she was and what she had done in 1968. It’s absolutely chilling that this woman who killed two children when she was just 11 years old could be walking among anyone in the UK with no possibility of being found.