True Crime, Disappearences And Paranormal Cases

Mary Bell (solved

Mary Bell was born on 26th , May 1957 in Newcastle , upon Tyne ,UK.

Mary Bell was born to Betty, a 16-year-old prostitute who reportedly told doctors to, quote," take that thing away from me," end quote, when she saw her daughter. Things went down from there for Mary.

Betty was often away from home on "business" trips to Glasgour, but her absence were periods of respite for the young Mary, who was subject to abuse, both mentall and physicall when her mother was present.

Her mother made her, from the age of four, act in her sexual acts.

Family members also suggested that she had tried to kill Mary multible times. Betty "accidently" made her fall out of the window. This fall caused Mary to have severe brain damage. Mary had damaged her prefontal cortex, an area associated with voluntary movements and decision making. And when she "accidentally" consumed sleeping pills. On this occasion, an independet witness saw Betty giving the pills to her daughter as sweets.

Now that her family is covered let's discuss Mary Bell's personality.

Mary was described as very manipulativ, and intelligent. She was known to be violent. One day even trying to choke a girl with her friend Norma Bell (no relation) holding her down while Mary shoved sand into her mouth and down her throut. Mary also lied alot and was described as a show off.

Now let's discuss her killings.

Then on May 25th, the day before she turned 11, Mary Bell strangled four-year-old Martin Brown to death in an abonded house in Scotswood England. She left the scene. Later she returned with friend, Norma Bell, to find he'd been beaten there by two local boys who had been playing in the house.

Martin was found 2-3 days later by police in the house on his back. Police were mystified. Besides a little blood and saliva on the victims face, there were no obvious signs of violence. There was, however, an empty bottle of painkillers on the floor near the body.

In the absence of better information, they assurred Martin Brown had swallowed the pills. His death was ruled an accident.

But Martins grieving family might have started to suspect otherwise when Mary Bell showed up on their doorstep in the days after Martin's death and asked to see him. His mother gently explained to her that Martin was dead, but Mary said, qoute," I already know that, I want to see him in his coffin." End quote. Martin's mother then slammed the door in her face.

Shortly after, Mary and Norma broke into a nursery school and vandalized it with notes taking responsibility for Martin Brown's death and promising to kill again. The police assumed the notes were a morbid prank.

For the nursery school, this was just the latest and most disturbing in a series of break-ins; they wearily installed an alarm system. It was a smart choice. Several nights later- but as they were simply loitering outside when police arrived, they were let of the hook.

At school, Mary was telling her classmates that she had killed Martin Brown. Her reputation as a show-off and a liar prevented anyone from taking her seriously.

That is, until another young boy turned up dead.

On July 31st, two months after the first murder, Mary Bell and Norma killed three-year-old Brian Howe by strangulation.

This time, Mary mitilated the body with scissors, scratching his thighs and butchering his penis.

When Brian's sister went looking for him, Mary and Norma offered to help; they searched the neighborhood, and Mary even pointed out to concrete blocks that hid his body. But Norma said he wouldn't be there, and Brian's sister moved on.

When Brians body was finally found, the neighborhood was panicked: two boys were dead in as many months. Police interviewed local children, hoping someone had seen something that would lead to a suspect. They received a shock when the coroner report came back:

As Brians blood had cooled, new marks appeared on his chest- someone had used a razor blade to scratch the letter "M" onto his torso. And there was another disturbing note: the lack of force used in the attack suggested Brian's killer might have been a child.

Mary and Norma did a poor job of disguising their interest in the investigation in their interviews with police. Both acted strangely.
Norma was excited and Mard evusive, especiall when police pointed out that she had been seen with Brian Howe on the day of his death.

On the day of Brian's burial, Mary was spotted lurking outside his house;she even laughed and rubbed her hands together when she saw his coffin.

The police called her back for a second interview, and Mary perhaps sensing investigators were closing in, made up a story about having seen an eight-year-old boy hit Brian on the day he died. The boy she said, had been carrying a pair of broken scissors.

That was Mary's big mistake: the mutilation of the body with scissors had been kept from the press and the public. It was a detail known only to investigators and one other person:

Brians murder

Both Norma and Mary broke down under further questioning. Norma began cooperating with police and implicated Mary, who herself admitted to being present during Brian Howes murder, but tried to place the blame on Norma. Both girls were charged, and a trial date was set. At trial, the prosecutor told the court that Bell's reason for committing thr murder was, quote," solely for the pleasure and excitement of killing," end quote.

Meanwhile, the British press referred to her as, quote" evil born."

The jury agreed that Mary Bell had committed the murders and handed down a guilty verdict in December.

Manslaughter, not murder, was the conviction, as a court psychiatrist had convinced the jury that Mary Bell showed "classic symptoms of psychopathy" and could not be held fully responsible for her actions. Norma Bell was regarded as am unwilling accomplice who had fallen under a bad influence.
She was acquitted.

The judge concluded that Mary was a dangerois person and a seriois threat to other children.

She was sentenced to be imprisoned " at Her Majesty's pleasre," a Britisch legal term that denotes an indeterminate sentence- basically, until the powers that be feel like it's appropiate to let you out.

Mary was let out at the age of 23 after 12 years of imprisontment.