Babyface Killer: The Life and Crimes of Mary Bell

Contrary to popular belief, a person does not necessarily have to be an adult to be a killer. Mary Bell nicknamed the "British Bad Seed," committed two cold-blooded murders at the tender age of 11. Unlike her fictional parallel from the 1956 movie, Mary was not born a monster; she became after suffering unimaginable abuse.

Mary's mother, Betty, hated her daughter since birth and made that fact well known. She treated Mary horribly and was constantly trying to get rid of her. She tried to kill her via drug overdose on several occasions. She continuously tried to give her away to anyone that seemed willing to take her. She was a prostitute and she and her clients often sexually abused the young child. Betty held her young daughter down while her tricks sexually molested and orally raped the girl. Like many serial killers, Mary was a bed wetter. According to her, her mother used to shove her face in the puddle of urine when she wet her bed. Betty then allegedly hung the mattress outside for the neighbors to see as a way of humiliating and punishing her daughter.

In addition to wetting her bed, Mary exhibited other common signs of future homicidal behavior: vandalism and cruelty to animals. In 1968, at the age of eleven, Mary began abusing people as well as animals. She was a bully at school and on one particular day, she and her friend Norma assaulted four of their young schoolmates. Ten days later, Mary committed her first murder.

On May 25, 1968, the mutilated body of 3-year-old Martin Brown was discovered in a nearby abandoned house. Shortly after killing the toddler, Mary enthusiastically led the boy's Aunt to his body. In the days following Martin's death, Mary followed his Aunt around, asking her excitedly if she missed her nephew.

Two days after the discovery of Martin's body, the local nursery was vandalized and four disturbing notes were found by the police. All of the notes were written by a child and in obscene terms, confessed the murder of the little boy.

Two months later, on July 31, a local 3-year-old named Brian Howe went missing. Mary and Norma eagerly offered to help his concerned older sister search for him, knowing all the while where he was since they were the ones who had killed him. The boy's body was discovered soon after at a local waste ground. His body was stuffed between two concrete blocks. He had been strangled and sexually mutilated with a broken pair of scissors that still remained nearby. The letter "M" had been carved into the boy's midsection with a razor.

It was not long before police became suspicious of Mary and Norma. These suspicions heightened significantly after a particular incident. At Howe's funeral on August 7, Chief Inspector James Dobson watched in horror as Mary stood before the young boy's coffin, laughing uncontrollably. At that moment, he knew that she had played a role in the murders of the two toddlers.

Mary and Norma were brought to the police station for questioning. Mary and Norma both denied having killed anyone and blamed the murders on each other. Although Mary did not openly admit to the murders, she was able to provide the officers with details about the murders that were not released to the public. Also, fibers from one of Mary's dresses were found on both of the victims.

Almost as horrific as the acts themselves, the young girl showed absolutely no remorse for the atrocious things she had done. The two girls were tried for the murders of Martin Brown and Brian Howe. Norma was acquitted. Mary was psychologically evaluated and diagnosed by experts as a psychopath. She was sentenced to detention for life, but was released from prison in 1980 at the age of 23. Since then, she has had a daughter and was paid for information later used to write a biography about her life.