We stayed in, Halloween night, but this program started so late--Midnight--and neither one of us wanted to stay up, so Monsieur kindly taped it for me. Imagine our shock, last night, when we discovered, around 9PM, it was going to be repeated! How could we have known?????
As it is, I will have to watch the taped version again, maybe tonight, because, somewhere toward the end, when I saw they were covering the Mary I knew, I missed the end part of that segment. I have to hear what they say!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Mary in question, who I was sure they would include, was child killer, Mary Bell, from Scotland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mary Flora Bell was born on May 26, 1957. Her mother was seventeen at the time, and wanted nothing to do with her. No one is sure who the biological father is, though it was popularly thought to be Billy Bell, whom her mother, Betty McCrickett, had taken up with. To support the two of them, Betty turned to prostitution, but she was no Fantine. She often neglected Mary, leaving her at home for vast stretches of time. As Mary grew older, her mother sometimes had her watch her interactions with clients, and it is widely suspected Mary was sexually abused by some of them. Nice, huh??????
Perhaps it was inevitable Mary would act out, though that does not excuse anything. But act out she did; on May 25, 1968, the day before her 11th birthday, she lured a four-year-old boy, Martin Brown, to an abandoned building, where she strangled him. She did this crime alone. But the generally friendless Mary did have one friend, a slow witted 13-year-old girl named Norma Joyce Bell--same name, but not related. The two girls together broke into a local nursery school, (this was in the Glasgow area!!!!!!!!) which was in Scotswood, trashing the place, and leaving notes saying they were jointly responsible for the killing of Martin Brown. Police did not take the matter seriously.
But when, on July 31, 1968, in that same Scotswood area, Mary and Norma both lured three-year-old Brian Howe to a wasteland area, and jointly strangled him, this could not be overlooked.. Mary was said to have returned to the body, mutilating him genitally with a pair of scissors and trying to carve her initial, "M." onto his chest.
On December 17, 1969, Norma Bell was acquitted, but Mary Bell was sentenced to St, Helen's facility, in Lancashire, which would later house another child killer--Jon Veanbles, one of the murderers of James Bulger, on February 17, 1993.
The story should have ended there, with Bell in the slammer for Life, where she belongs!!!!!!!!! But, would you believe, she was released, in 1980, age 23, given a new identity, went on to marry, have a daughter, and become a grandmother?????? What right does she have to all that after destroying the life of two innocent children??????? And her daughter, who is probably grown now, if Mary is a granny, has the right to know what kind of a monster her mother is/was. And so do those grandchildren!!!!!!!!!!
By the way, darlings, if any of this sounds just a tad bit familiar, it should. It was used, with small liberties taken, as my favorite "Law And Order" episode, "Killerz," from 1999, wherein young Hallee Hirsh, in a performance that should have won her an Emmy, played Jenny Brandt.
Consider.
Jenny Brandt is ten years old. She hangs out with Tara Padden, 13, so slow witted she has repeated the sixth grade twice! She and Jenny lure Aaron Polansky, to an abandoned
construction site, where, with Tara looking on, Jenny beats him to death with a rock, pulls down his pants, and sticks a battery in his mouth. Then they stick his body, at least partially, into a drain pipe, and leave it there.
Jenny's mother (wonderfully played by Luba Mason) is some kind of dumb tramp. Her husband, Vince, Jenny's father, is in jail for car theft, and her mother leaves the door open as she has sex with boy friends, so Jenny is getting an eyeful. And cultivating a hatred for men!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mary was convicted, but, in the story, Jenny gets off, because no one wants to believe a little girl in knee socks and pigtails can kill. And the judicial figures, with the exception of Jack McCoy, are all women. Only Angie Harmon, as Abbie Carmichael, is not taken in by Jenny's act.
The last shot of the segment shows a serial killer sizing up their next victim, as Jack McCoy looks on in horror. I could not produce that one, but take a look at this. It is a brilliant glimpse of a truly sociopathic child.
Hallee Hirsh is simply brilliant in this role, and you should see it. But no doubt about it, darlings, I know my sociopaths. I can spot one a mile away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps it was inevitable Mary would act out, though that does not excuse anything. But act out she did; on May 25, 1968, the day before her 11th birthday, she lured a four-year-old boy, Martin Brown, to an abandoned building, where she strangled him. She did this crime alone. But the generally friendless Mary did have one friend, a slow witted 13-year-old girl named Norma Joyce Bell--same name, but not related. The two girls together broke into a local nursery school, (this was in the Glasgow area!!!!!!!!) which was in Scotswood, trashing the place, and leaving notes saying they were jointly responsible for the killing of Martin Brown. Police did not take the matter seriously.
But when, on July 31, 1968, in that same Scotswood area, Mary and Norma both lured three-year-old Brian Howe to a wasteland area, and jointly strangled him, this could not be overlooked.. Mary was said to have returned to the body, mutilating him genitally with a pair of scissors and trying to carve her initial, "M." onto his chest.
On December 17, 1969, Norma Bell was acquitted, but Mary Bell was sentenced to St, Helen's facility, in Lancashire, which would later house another child killer--Jon Veanbles, one of the murderers of James Bulger, on February 17, 1993.
The story should have ended there, with Bell in the slammer for Life, where she belongs!!!!!!!!! But, would you believe, she was released, in 1980, age 23, given a new identity, went on to marry, have a daughter, and become a grandmother?????? What right does she have to all that after destroying the life of two innocent children??????? And her daughter, who is probably grown now, if Mary is a granny, has the right to know what kind of a monster her mother is/was. And so do those grandchildren!!!!!!!!!!
By the way, darlings, if any of this sounds just a tad bit familiar, it should. It was used, with small liberties taken, as my favorite "Law And Order" episode, "Killerz," from 1999, wherein young Hallee Hirsh, in a performance that should have won her an Emmy, played Jenny Brandt.
Consider.
Jenny Brandt is ten years old. She hangs out with Tara Padden, 13, so slow witted she has repeated the sixth grade twice! She and Jenny lure Aaron Polansky, to an abandoned
construction site, where, with Tara looking on, Jenny beats him to death with a rock, pulls down his pants, and sticks a battery in his mouth. Then they stick his body, at least partially, into a drain pipe, and leave it there.
Jenny's mother (wonderfully played by Luba Mason) is some kind of dumb tramp. Her husband, Vince, Jenny's father, is in jail for car theft, and her mother leaves the door open as she has sex with boy friends, so Jenny is getting an eyeful. And cultivating a hatred for men!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mary was convicted, but, in the story, Jenny gets off, because no one wants to believe a little girl in knee socks and pigtails can kill. And the judicial figures, with the exception of Jack McCoy, are all women. Only Angie Harmon, as Abbie Carmichael, is not taken in by Jenny's act.
The last shot of the segment shows a serial killer sizing up their next victim, as Jack McCoy looks on in horror. I could not produce that one, but take a look at this. It is a brilliant glimpse of a truly sociopathic child.
Hallee Hirsh is simply brilliant in this role, and you should see it. But no doubt about it, darlings, I know my sociopaths. I can spot one a mile away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Glasgow is in Scotland....not England.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteJane,
You are right. I fixed it.
Scotland is considered the British Isles,
so when I have often read about Mary Bell,
she is often referenced as a British child
killer, but never any more specific than that.
And if there had been a Glasgow in England,
you would not have needed to cite this discrepancy.
Thanks for the info, and welcome!!!!!!!!!!!!