BBC ON THIS DAY | 17 | 1968: Mary Bell found guilty of double killing

1968: Mary Bell found guilty of double killing

An 11-year-old girl has been sentenced to life in detention after being found guilty at Newcastle Assizes of the manslaughter of two small boys.

An 11-year-old girl has been sentenced to life in detention after being found guilty at Newcastle Assizes of the manslaughter of two small boys.

Mary Bell is said to have strangled the boys, aged four and three, “solely for the pleasure and excitement of killing”.

The jury heard Mary, also known as May, was suffering from diminished responsibility at the time and therefore found her not guilty of murder.

Her accomplice, known only as Norma, aged 13, who had been jointly charged with Mary, was acquitted.

Very grave risk

As the verdict was read out, Mary broke down and wept.

Mr Justice Cusack described her as dangerous and said there was a “very grave risk to other children if she is not closely watched”.

Mary’s mother and grandmother, who were sitting behind her on the benches, also wept when the verdict was announced.

Martin Brown, aged four, of Scotswood in Newcastle was found dead in a derelict house on 25 May. The body of Brian Howe, three, also of Scotswood, was found on waste ground near his home two months later.

The two girls, who were playmates, also lived in the Scotswood area of Newcastle. They denied the charges.

The court had earlier heard Norma give evidence in which she described how Mary had tried to strangle Brian Howe. She said Mary ignored her pleas to stop hurting the boy so she left them and next time she saw Mary she was on her own with Brian’s dog.

Jurors were told despite the age difference, Mary was the more dominant personality with a very worldly attitude.

Rudolph Lyons QC said: “For example, when she was being questioned by a detective chief inspector about a charge of murder she said to him, ‘I’ll phone for some solicitors, they will get me out. This is being brainwashed.”

He said she also tried to throw suspicion onto an innocent boy in a “very cunning and insidious manner”.

He continued: “Both girls well knew that what they did was wrong and what the results would be.”

Home Office psychiatrist Dr David Westbury told the court Mary had a psychopathic disorder for which she needed treatment.

The judge said: “It is a most unhappy thing that, in all the resources of this country, it appears that there is no hospital available that is suitable for the accommodation of this girl.”

Mary is being held at a remand centre. It seems likely she will be sent to an approved school where she will be held in a secure unit.