Mary Bell Betty Mccrickett

Her lack of emotion and evidence of her previous violence towards babies and animals had staggered the court. It was no surprise that people wanted an explanation as to why a young girl could behave in such a depraved way.

Such analysis was typical of the growing cult of victimhood, which saw criminals as prisoners of their upbringing who were therefore incapable of making moral judgments.

Mary Bell, pictured, was convicted of horrific child murders. Bell's mother Betty admitted that, as a child, her daughter had witnessed her own sordid lifestyle, which included drug-taking.

To blame were her teachers, the police, social workers and even her neighbours. According to Sereny, everyone bore responsibility except the killer herself.

Sereny had managed to humanise a monster. Undaunted, she remained in touch with Mary Bell throughout her 12 years in prison and at the secret address where — hiding behind a new identity — the killer subsequently enjoyed her freedom.

As with Mary Bell, she endeavoured to explain away their monstrous behaviour as the result of circumstances beyond their control.

New theory: Albert Speer, right, was convicted at Nuremberg for war crimes. Sereny claimed in a novel that his monstrous behaviour was a result of circumstances beyond his control.

Unlike most Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, she was fascinated by the perpetrators of mass murder. One intriguing aspect of Sereny was the way she denied her Jewish roots.

When she returned to Europe from the U. She angrily denied she was Jewish — a key reason why she had been forced to leave Vienna in the first place.

Instead the spotlight has intensified, prompting The Times to bring forward its publication of the book extracts. In a separate article, also published in Wednesday's edition, the newspaper's editor, Peter Stothard, seeks to justify his stance on the story.

He suggests that the book itself provides the best answer to critics who say he should not have serialised it because Bell was paid.

Those who can now read the book can now decide whether the cost was too high," said Mr Stothard. It was not long before people within the area began labelling Betty as depressed and erratic and many believed that it was clear she suffered from some form of mental illness.

Others also reported that they believed that Betty maybe suffered from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, but there is no evidence to support this.

Following this incident, Mary and her family moved to Scotswood — an economically depressed area which had high levels of domestic abuse and criminal behaviour.

Here, the family was offered a small house on White House Road, one of the most rundown streets in Scotswood. The family home was filthy and had little to no furniture.

Her father, Billy, was always at the local pub drinking and if he was not there he was out robbing homes and shops. While Billy committed these acts, Betty would dress herself up and head to the streets in search of custom — leaving Mary alone for hours and sometimes even days if Betty decided to travel further.

Those who lived in the area, reported that both Betty and Billy were alcoholics and would frequently be drunk.

It is also known that shortly after the move, Mary witnessed her friend being run over and killed by a bus. However, Mary did not receive any sympathy off her family at this difficult time.

Instead, Mary was met by more abuse at the hands of her parents. At the age of just four, Mary reported that she was being solicited by her mother to engage in sexual acts with older men from the surrounding areas, but nobody seemed to stop this, and so Betty continued to make money by soliciting her young daughter.

It is also known that following all the physical abuse from Betty and Billy, Mary developed brain damage to her prefrontal cortex: an area associated with voluntary movements and decision making.

It is known that Betty would be known for being dominant with her clients and would frequently use BDSM with her clients. As Betty would satisfy her clients, Mary would watch in on this behaviour.

Research shows that one of the biggest predictors of whether or not a child will become a perpetrator or victim of violent crime is whether or not they witnessed violence in the home as a child.

The only break Mary got from her family was when she attended school. By this point, Mary had grown and sported piercing blue eyes and black hair, with many reporting that her eyes seemed to stare right through you.

At school, the teachers would label her as a chronic liar and one of their most disruptive students. However, Mary would not receive any backlash for these incidents at home, as the majority of the time she was alone.

The only friend that Mary really had was Norma Bell of no relation , who lived next door to Mary. Norma was two years older than Mary but was not very bright and was easily led.

Therefore, it was easy for Mary to rule over Norma and convince her to do anything she pleased. Before long, the two children would become feared by every child in the area.

The publication of Cries Unheard was controversial because Bell received payment for her participation. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other people named Mary Bell, see Mary Bell disambiguation.

Newcastle upon Tyne , [1] Northumberland, England. United Kingdom portal Law portal Biography portal. BBC News. Retrieved 12 May Cries Unheard: the Story of Mary Bell.

London: Macmillan. The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media Ltd. Retrieved 27 October 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, because it caught Mary and Norma at the scene of the crime several nights later — but as they were simply loitering outside when the police arrived, they were let off the hook.

In the meantime, Mary was telling her fellow classmates that she had killed Martin Brown. Her reputation as a show-off and a liar prevented anyone from taking her claims seriously.

That is, until another young boy turned up dead. On July 31, two months after the first murder, Mary Bell and her friend Norma killed three-year-old Brian Howe by strangulation.

This time, Bell mutilated the body with scissors, scratching his thighs and butchering his penis. Police interviewed local children, hoping someone had seen something that would lead to a suspect.

Mary and Norma did a poor job of disguising their interest in the investigation in their interviews with police.

Both acted strangely.