The 10 Year Old Serial Killer 

this little girl you’re looking at now was convicted in december of 1968 after she had confessed to multiple killings she was just 10 years old at the time of her first murder and is now one of the world’s most notorious child killers in modern history welcome or welcome back to twisted minds my name is james and today we cover the case of mary bell a child killer who not only killed other children but found great joy in seeing how her actions affected the families and authorities involved [Music] mary bell was born on may 26 1957 to
betty a 16 year old prostitute who reportedly asked doctors to take her daughter away from her things only went downhill from there with betty often going away on business trips to glasgow scotland having her mom disappeared upset young mary despite the mental and physical abuse her mom often inflicted upon her on one occasion betty’s own sister watched betty try to give mary away to a woman who had been unsuccessfully trying to adopt her the sister quickly stopped the shady deal and brought the girl back to
her mother mary was also known to be weirdly accident-prone once falling from a window and suspiciously overdosing on sleeping pills by accident some people believe the accidents were down to betty trying to get rid of her own daughter while others believe it was a case of munch houses by proxy which meant that betty enjoyed the attention and sympathies she got from her daughter’s misfortunes disgustingly mary herself says she was subject to repeated sexual acts with her mother forcing her to engage with men from the age of five
something her family knew nothing about they did know however that mary had already witnessed death firsthand when her five-year-old friend was run over and killed by a bus with everything that had happened to her it’s understandable that she was a withdrawn and disturbed child who became incredibly manipulative and violent for weeks before her first murder mary bell had been acting extremely strange on may 11 1968 mary had been playing with a three-year-old boy when he was badly injured by falling off an air raid
shelter his parents thought it was just an accident but mary and the young boy knew different the next day three mothers came forward to tell police that mary had attempted to choke their young daughters the police interviewed the child but was soon let off with a stern telling off sadly if these complaints were taken more seriously the future of this young girl and the lives she would soon destroy could have been very different [Music] on may 25th 1968 the body of four-year-old martin brown was discovered in an abandoned building at
first it was regarded as a sad and unfortunate accident because the initial investigation claimed that there were no obvious marks or injuries found two young boys hunting for scrap wood had entered the abandoned house and were confronted with the small corpse of martin brown lying under a window next to the body was an empty bottle of aspirin which led police to speculate that he had taken too much and had overdosed on the medicine even though the boy had dried blood and saliva on his cheek that had run down to his chin
there were no signs of struggle and no marks on his body at all it seemed like he had just taken some pills lay down and never woke up the two boys who had found the body called out to some workmen nearby and soon found themselves surrounded by a crowd of children and adults all gopping at the sad sight the workmen said they recognized martin as the boy they’d shared some cookies with less than an hour before they just couldn’t work out how the boy ended up in the building two of the children watching the scene unfold managed to
squeeze through a hole in the derelict structure to get a better view of martin’s body mary bell and norma bell children who despite their surnames were unrelated unbeknownst to the police mary lured the boy into the house and then strangled him to death with her small hands she then brought norma to the house to show off her handiwork mary then took it upon herself to run and find martin’s aunt telling the woman she knew where martin was and that he was covered in blood from an accident the poor woman unwittingly followed her
nephew’s murderer to the scene of the crime in the days that followed she was tormented by both mary and norma who would torture her by asking questions such as how sad the family were and if his mother was missing him eventually martin’s aunt stopped opening the door on one occasion mary knocked on the door of martin’s house and asked his mother if she could see martin confused the morning woman told the girl that martin had died at which mary replied oh i know he’s dead i want to see him in his coffin this must have been absolutely
awful for that poor mother especially after finding out that it was this little girl who coldly took his life disturbingly for a class assignment mary drew a picture of a boy lying exactly in the same position that martin brown was found in with a bottle labeled tablet to make it even more sickening she called it there has been a boy who had just laid down and died although mary wasn’t the only child who knew about how martin had died she was the only one to draw the scene although this sounds bizarre her teacher
wasn’t suspicious as she knew the children had heard about death [Music] mary’s attack on other children and her bragging attitude continued at one point she pointed to the house where martin brown’s body was found and told neighborhood children that it had been the place she had killed someone a story that was followed by a laugh on may 26 1968 mary’s 11th birthday the girl attacked norma’s younger sibling she was so violent that norma’s father had to physically remove her from the home this pattern of violence was not anything
surprising to anyone who knew mary as her temper began to spiral out of control after martin brown’s tiny coffin was buried mary wanting to be in the spotlight again turned on her best friend norma and viciously attacked her she scratched at her face and kicked her in the head finishing the attack by telling the girl she was a killer and that she was willing to kill again children who saw the attack shrugged the threat off as mary being over dramatic little did they know what the little girl was capable of in a photo taken at
a demonstration which local residents held in an attempt to urge the government to tear down derelict buildings to stop more deaths from happening two children can be seen holding up a banner one of these children was mary bell yes the young killer had inserted herself into the situation to stay involved experts believe that killers do this to satisfy their narcissistic egos and to keep the buzz of killing going as long as they possibly can although no official criminal investigation began at the time of martin brown’s death a
doctor viewing the body did comment to officers that it would have been possible for another child to have strangled him to death without any signs of violence since a child’s hands are so much smaller and weaker than an adult on the same day of the attack on norma’s sister the two friends decided to break into a nursery so that they could vandalize it the next day staff discovered the carnage the girls had caused as well as some chilling notes that the police dismissed as a prank one said i murder so that i may come back while
another read we did murder martin brown [ __ ] off you bastards if these admissions of guilt had been taken seriously then at least one other child’s life would have been spared on the 31st of july 1968 mary and norma bell took part in the death again by strangling of a three-year-old named brian howe on a wasteland near the same area that martin brown was killed after the boy was killed at the hands of mary bell the girls returned later on to carve the letter n into the poor boy’s stomach with a razor blade which was
later changed to an m the two initials of the girls mary bell also used a pair of scissors to cut off some of howe’s hair scratch his legs and severely mutilate his genitals as the girls were so young and their testimonies kept contradicting each other no one will ever know for certain what happened that day what is clear however is the depths of depravity that were displayed that day [Music] after the killing of the second child police began to suspect that the letters left at the nursery were not sick pranks
at all but someone admitting to the murder of martin brown the police quickly collected information about the possible suspects during this process they focused more on the children in the area and questioned them about the recent murder cases of all the children two girls norma and mary bell stood out as acting odd when norma was questioned about the murder she couldn’t stop smiling and expressing how excited she was to be part of the investigation the detective noticed that norma wasn’t reacting normally taking the whole
process as one big joke mary bell acted in a similar way evading questions and acting strangely during the questioning mary had said that she had seen brian howe playing with another eight-year-old boy in the area where the accident had happened she later added that this boy had been carrying a pair of scissors this intrigued the police as they hadn’t released the information about the scissors to the public during brian’s funeral a police detective was watching mary bell’s behavior he described how the girl had a sinister look on her face
rubbing her hands with excitement this led police to questioning norma once again which led the girl to admitting everything that had happened including the horrendous acts her best friend had committed on martin brown and brian howe according to norma mary had told her that she enjoyed strangling both children and mutilating the body of the three-year-old for a period of time each girl blamed the other for the murders which resulted in norma’s parents stepping forward and explaining that it was mary who had shown violence
even toward their own family and that their daughter couldn’t possibly have been responsible [Music] on the 17th of december 1968 norma bell was acquitted of all the crimes mary bell however was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility following the jury listening to a diagnosis from psychiatrists who said that the girl showed clear signs of psychopathy the judge mr justice cassack described her as dangerous and said she posed a very grave risk to other children she was initially sent to the red bank secure
unit in saint helens lancashire uk before being moved around quite frequently during the time she spent in prison after her conviction mary got a lot of attention from the press her mother who was ironically blamed for her daughter’s mental health because of her awful upbringing repeatedly sold stories to the press she would even sell pages that she claimed to have been written by mary it’s sad that this woman managed to get attention and financial gain from a child who she reportedly forced into prostitution and later went on to murder
two children while being just 11 years old herself mary did make headlines for herself again in september 1977 when she briefly escaped from moore court open prison fortunately she was caught and lost her prison privileges for 28 days a pretty tame punishment for a child killer on the run after serving 12 years in various jails belle was released at the age of 23.
she was also granted total anonymity so she could escape the media frenzy and protect herself from attacks only four years after being released from jail she became a mother to a baby girl mary and her baby unbelievably lived in her own hometown of tyneside straight after her release but the community made sure she didn’t stay for long while keeping her anonymity mary helped contribute to a biography written about her and was paid for it this disgusted the government who tried to block the publication in the uk mary bell’s daughter’s anatomy was meant to
stop at the age of 18. but on the 21st of may 2003 bell won a high court battle to have her own anonymity and that of her daughter extended for life this was the first in the uk with any court order permanently protecting the identity of someone known as a mary bell order in 2009 the child killer became a grandmother giving the woman a second chance at nurturing and protecting a life contrary to 50 years previously where she had snuffed it out with her bare hands no one is 100 sure where belle is now with the anatomy order protecting her
for the rest of her life it probably will be a long time until someone finds out where belle moved to and will most likely be shared after she passes away but after a childhood of abuse forced prostitution and trauma does maribel deserve to live the rest of her days as a normal person with a normal family or should there be no forgiveness for a child who killed other children let us know your thoughts in the comments below for tuning in to twisted minds that was the case of mary bell and why don’t you go ahead and click on one of the two
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