Criminal Profile - Mary Bell
Nicole Ruiz
Background/Bio
Mary’s home life is a nightmare of extreme abuse and deprivation. Mary’s mother Betty McCrickett is a mentally unstable alcoholic, who works as prostitute and is often absent from the family home and her young daughter. In book about Mary called “Cries Unheard: the Story of Mary Bell”, author Gitta Sereny talks about how as a child, Betty would force her daughter to take part in prostitution. Other family members would tell Sereny that in the early years of her life, Betty would try to kill Mary, trying to make it look like an accident.
There are suspicions that Betty suffered from the psychiatric disease, Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, where caregivers fabricate health problems of those in their care, in this case, her young daughter, Mary.
There are questions as to the true identity of Mary’s father. Marrying Betty after Mary was born; Billy Bell is a lifelong criminal who Mary thought may have been her father. Police would later tell of being chased off by a violent Billy who threatens to set the dog on them when they call to interview Mary.
Her awful home life seems to shape Mary’s personality and children at the Delaval Road Junior School bear the brunt of Mary’s unpredictable and violent behaviour; she attempts to strangle young children, stubbing out a cigarette on the cheek of a young girl.
Mary is a pretty little girl, with dark hair and piercing blue eyes. Her schoolteachers would comment how bright she is but express concerns about her lack of feeling for other people.
Although Mary’s violent behaviour is noticed by those around her, nothing is done and she carries on unchecked, with terrible consequences. She tries to strangle a little girl and suffocate her by filling her mouth with sand, while her friend Norma Bell (no relation) holds her down. Although Norma is a couple of years older than Mary she has learning difficulties and is easily led by the younger girl. Mary’s terrified victim manages to get away and the incident is reported to the police, but no action is taken.
A Childish Letter From a Child Murderer
Mary's Victims
A few weeks later, 3-year-old Brian Howe was found strangled in an industrial area, where the local children were known to play. He was found with various strange wounds, including puncture marks on his thigh, his genitals partially mutilated, and clumps of his hair cut off. In addition, a few days later another mark would become evident on his belly, where it looked like someone had tried to scratch the letter "M" into his skin with a razor blade. A pair of broken scissors lay nearby.
A Murderous Child Released...
Nearly nine years later, in 1977, Mary would briefly escape from the adult prison she had just been transferred to, but was quickly caught. Despite that, she was released from prison after serving just 12 years, in 1980. She was 23 years old. She was granted anonymity to start a new life, under a new name.
Mary gave birth a daughter in 1984. There was great concern about whether or not Mary should be allowed to keep her child; after all, she had murdered two children. In the end, Mary was allowed to keep and raise her daughter. At one point, after "Cries Unheard" was published (see more below), and it was discovered that Mary Bell had been paid for telling her side of the story, there was a media uproar. Local law officials, who had been made aware of Mary's whereabouts, revealed Mary's local and indentity, and there was a large outcry from the local populace. Her daughter had not been aware of her mother's past. Mary went to court, and was granted lifelong anonymity for both her and her daughter.Nature:
- personality disorder/ not mentally stable
- Mary bell's mom caused her so much stress/anxiety/crazy because her mom never showed love for her. She always tried to kill her and make it look like an " accident "
Nurture:
- She was a prostitute at the age of 9. Mary bell and her mom didn't have much money and so she " sold" her daughter off to older men to have for the night.
- Her " friend" Norma influenced her even more to make poor decisions like cuss out her classmates and teachers and write bad words in their nursery