Product Information
Why would a child murder another child? This groundbreaking book was first published in 1972 and created controversy around the subject of children who kill. Sadly, that debate has recently re-opened, and Gita Sereny's findings are once again of the utmost importance. In December 1968 two girls - Mary Bell, eleven, and Norma Bell, thirteen (neighbours, but not related) - stood before a criminal court in Newcastle, accused of strangling, within a six-week period, Martin Brown, four years old, and Brian Howe, three. Norma was acquitted. Mary Bell, the younger but infinitely more sophisticated and cooler of the two, was found guilty of manslaughter rather than murder because of 'diminished responsibility' and was sentenced to 'detention' for life. Step by step, the extraordinary murders, the events surrounding them, the alternately bizzare and nonchalant behaviour of the two girls, their brazen offers to help the distraught families of the dead boys, the police work that led to their apprehension, and the trial that itself are grippinly re-created in this rare-study of the wanton murder of child by child. What emerges with equal force is the inability of society to anticipate such events and to take adequate steps once disaster has struck.Product Identifiers
PublisherVintage
ISBN-139780712662970
eBay Product ID (ePID)96630958
Product Key Features
Number of Pages352 Pages
Publication NameThe Case of Mary Bell: a Portrait of a Child Who Murdered
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year1995
TypeTextbook
Subject AreaSexual Abuse, Human Biology
AuthorGitta Sereny
FormatPaperback
Dimensions
Item Height216 mm
Item Weight374 g
Additional Product Features
Country/Region of ManufactureUnited Kingdom
Title_AuthorGitta Sereny
GenreChildren & Young Adults
TopicTrue Crime