Pauline Parker, born in 1938 in New Zealand, who (together with her friend Juliet), murdered her own mother on June 22, 1954. The two girls had killed Honora Parker because Juliet and her father were leaving shortly for South Africa. Pauline wanted to travel there, too, but her mother forbade it. According to their own accounts, Pauline and Juliet were devoted friends who collaborated on a series of adventure novels which they hoped would be bought by a Hollywood studio, turned into screenplays, and made into epic films.
Prior to the trial, Pauline Parker was known as Pauline Rieper. Her mother, Honora Parker, had been living with her father, Herbert Rieper, in the manner of marriage, but during police investigations, it was revealed that they were not in fact married. Thus, during the trial, Honora was referred to as Honora Parker not Honora Rieper. Similarly, Pauline, was tried under her (unmarried) mother's name, although up until that time, she had been known as Pauline Rieper.
They had also invented their own personal religion, with its own ideas on morality, which bore a striking resemblance to the Latter-Day Saints. According to their doctrine, they knew well that murder was against the law, but felt they were doing Mrs. Parker a favor by sending her to Heaven, where she would be happy.
On the June 22, the girls bashed Mrs. Parker's head in with a half brick concealed in one of Pauline's stockings, and when the body was found they claimed that the woman had 'slipped and fell', though this was not in accordance with the forty-five wounds on the woman's head. The bloody stocking with the brick in it was found nearby.
The two were tried by jury in Christchurch, and found guilty. As they were too young to be considered for the death penalty under New Zealand law at the time, they were convicted and sentenced to be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure. They were released separately some five years later.
Juliet joined her mother, now divorced and remarried, in England, later moving to Scotland where she lives today as author Anne Perry. Pauline apparently spent some time in New Zealand under close surveillance before being allowed to leave for England. She lives there under a different name, and details of her life are not forthcoming save that she has become a devout Roman Catholic, is doing well, and extremely remorseful about having killed her mother.
The story of the girls was made into a film, Heavenly Creatures, by New Zealand producer-director Peter Jackson, in 1994.
References
- J.H.H. Gaute and Robin Odell, The New Murderer's Who's Who, 1996, Harrap Books, London
- Famous Criminal Cases, Volume Two, 1955, London
- Hallmark of Horror, 1973, London
- Obsession, 1958, London
- More Criminal Files, 1957, London
- Patrick Wilson, Children who kill, 1973, London