Find me here:
  The Paranormal Guide
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Atlas
  • Glossary

Mary Bell and Jesse Pomeroy

4/4/2014

Comments

 
Picture
Killers are not just adults. There are children who have committed some horrific crimes. Mary Bell was 11 when she took the life of two young children.

Jesse Pomeroy claimed to have killed 27 people in his 14 years of life, and was left in solitary confinement for 41 years.

Mary Bell

PictureMary Bell.
Born: Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

"Murder isn't that bad, we all die sometime anyway." -- Mary Bell to one of her guards

Mary Flora Bell was born on 26 May 1957 to a prostitute mother. From the age of four she was repeatedly forced, by her mother, to engage in sexual acts with men. This is no excuse for what she did when she was a little older, but it could perhaps be one of the reasons for her psychopathic behaviour.

The day before Mary turned 11; she took four year old Martin Brown into an old, derelict house, and strangled him to death. It was 25 May, 1968. Two boys found his body, and when the police turned up, they assumed the death was attributed to Martin consuming the discarded bottle of pills found nearby. The case was closed.

Just over two months later, on 31 July, 1968, Mary and a friend named Norma abducted three year old Brian Howe. They took to him to a wasteland in Scotswood and strangled him, before leaving the scene. Mary returned later on with scissors and a razor. She groomed him by cutting his hair, scratched and punctured his legs, and mutilated his penis. She also took the razor and carved an M into his stomach. Mary later said: "Brian Howe had no mother, so he won't be missed.

PictureMary Bell as a teenager.
The girls were initially questioned as a routine procedure, with the police questioning over 1200 children. During their interviews, they acted strangely. They were evasive, and changed their story twice. Eventually the seriousness of the situation sunk in and Norma caved, telling the police everything. A link was eventually established between the death of Brian and the death of Martin. It was assumed that as Mary was quite young, her grip was not hard enough to leave any marks on Martin’s neck.

Both Mary and Norma were charged with two counts of manslaughter in August 1968. The trial was sensationalised and was all over the news in the United Kingdom. Norma was acquitted on both counts of manslaughter, but Mary was found guilty of “Manslaughter because of Diminished Responsibility” in both Martin and Brian’s death. She was sentenced to “Detention for Life”. She cried as her sentence was read out.

At the completion of the trial, Mary’s mother sold her story to whoever would pay for it. Mary was released from prison on 14 May 1980, at the age of 23. She gave birth to a daughter in 1984, and successfully won a High Court battle in 2003 to have her anonymity and that of her daughter, protected for life.

Jesse Pomeroy

PictureJesse Pomeroy.
Born: Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

“I suppose I did” -- Jesse Pomeroy when asked if he killed four year old Horace Mullen.

Jesse Harding Pomeroy was the youngest person ever convicted of ‘Murder in the First Degree’ in the history of Massachusetts. At the age of 12 he was arrested for brutally mutilating seven boys – all of whom survived. Two years later he was arrested for two counts of murder.

Jesse was born on 29 November, 1859, and was raised by his widowed mother, who worked as a dressmaker. He suffered bullying as a child due to some striking physical abnormalities, they being a bad hair lip and one eye which was completely white. He was also said to have suffered from mild retardation.

When Jesse turned 11, he started bullying others, and taking it to a new level. He would take small children into the woods and would demand they take their clothes of. He would tie them up and beat them, poking them with sharp objects, cutting them etc. After hurting seven kids, he was arrested and sent to the West Borough Reform School. A year and a half later he was released, due to good behaviour. It seems that he formulated a better plan while he was in Reform School, which was basically that he couldn’t get into trouble with the police if the kids he hurt were dead.

Ten year old Mary Curren disappeared in March 1874. She disappeared without a trace, and the police had no leads.


PictureJesse Pomeroy in isolation.
One month later, four year old Horace Mullen also disappeared. His body was found though, in the marshlands on the outskirts of the city. His body had been slashed with a knife and he was nearly decapitated.

When his body was found, Jesse’s name, as having a record as a child torturer, was at the top of the list. Jesse was 14 at that time. The police found a bloodstained knife in his trousers. While Jesse was locked up in preparation for trial, his mother moved house, to escape the press and censoring of her neighbours. Once she had vacated, the landlord decided to renovate. The basement was dug up, and the body of the missing Mary Curren was found.

When police asked Jesse about her body, he admitted to killing her, as well as 27 others, 12 of which he claimed he buried around his mother’s house.

At the trial, Jesse was found guilty of the two original murders, and despite the fact that he was a 14 year old boy with mild mental retardation, he was sentenced to death. This sentence was then reduced to life in prison, and he was to be kept in solitary confinement for the rest of his life.

Jesse spent 41 years in solitary confinement. He tried to kill himself many times, with no success. And he tried to escape repeatedly. He was finally moved to an asylum, and was permitted to mix with other inmates when he was 70. He died in the asylum only two years later in 1932, at age 72.



By Peet Banks 2014
Put together by Ashley Hall 2014
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

    The Paranormal Guide Articles

    Here you will find all of the articles written for The Paranormal Guide on all things paranormal, strange, dark, macabre, weird, strange and bizarre!

    All photos with the blog posts remain the property of their respectful owners. If one of your photos is featured here without attribution please leave a comment on the blog and full credit will be given.

    Categories

    All
    Bizarre Experiments
    Conspiracy
    Cryptozoology
    Cursed And Haunted Objects
    Curses Demons And Exorcisms
    Earth Mysteries
    Fakes Frauds And Hoaxes
    Ghosts And Hauntings
    Ghosts Ghouls And Demons
    Interesting And Inspiring People
    Investigations
    Miracles
    My Paranormal
    Paranormal Photos
    Paranormal Vocabulary
    Phobias And Philias
    Post Mortem Practices
    Psychics Predictions And Seers
    Questions And Discussions
    Reviews
    Spirituality And Miracles
    Spirituality And Miracles
    Strange And Macabre Places
    Strange And Tragic Deaths
    This Week In Dark History
    Tragedy
    True Crime And Punishment
    Ufos And Aliens
    Unsolved Mysteries
    Urban Legend Superstition And Folklore
    Weird Odd And Bizarre


    Ashley Hall -
    The Paranormal Guide

    Ashley Hall explores The Paranormal, True Crime, Strange Deaths, Dark History, The Weird, The Strange and The Bizarre! Fact or Fiction? You decide!

    Picture

    Contributors

    Picture
    Matty Sweeney
    Picture
    Peet Banks
    Picture
    Nic Hume

    Picture
    Check out The Paranormal Guide Podcast and join three paranormal investigators and researchers for honest and raw discussions on all things paranormal, strange, dark and macabre HERE!

    Archives

    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Please note that dates are from when the article was originally made.
    The Paranormal Guide does have posts all the way up to the current date.


    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.