Rehabilitation and anonymity for child killer?

Question

This is old news, but I was curious as to what people think about Mary Bell.

For anyone who doesn't know, Bell killed a 3 year old child in 1968 when she herself was 11. Bell's mother, a prostitute, tried to murder her 4 times when she was a kid and regularly 'rented' her to customers, which was obviously seen as a cause of her diagnosed psychopathy. She was rehabilitated and freed, and is now 50.

Several years ago the press found her, Bell was released from custody in 1980 and was granted anonymity to start a new life with her daughter, born in 1984. This daughter did not know of her mother's past until Bell's location was discovered by reporters: she and her mother had to leave their house with bed sheets over their heads. The daughter's anonymity was originally protected until she reached the age of 18. However, on May 21, 2003, Bell won a High Court battle to have her own anonymity and that of her daughter extended for life.

As Bell was released fully rehabilitated in 1980, should she be left alone to carry on? Or do you think that the anonymity should be lifted now that Bell's child is an adult?

I agree completely. Let her be.

Answer 1

I feel so awful for her daughter - imagine being a kid, finding your house surrounded by press, and then your mum telling you that she was responsible for one of the most notorious and well known murders in the UK. It astounds me how the press could quite deliberately screw up a young girl's head like that.

I think Mary Bell should be left alone to get on with her life. What she did was hideous and vile, but the fact is that she was a 10 year old being subjected to regular murder attempts from her own mother, not to mention the dreadful sexual abuse she suffered from her mother's punters, throughout the first 11 years of her life. It was all she'd known. That's not an excuse, but it obviously warped her to the point of becoming psychotic. (Mistress M - your point about child abusehits me hard for personal reasons. I can't imagine myself ever having become a murderess, but I didn't develop a serious mental problem, whereas Bell did. You're quite right about this not being any justification for her behaviour, but she was diagnosed as a psychopath. )

She's been rehabilitated, as you said. This has been the case since 1980. Let her be. What use is there in hounding her now, 30 years after she was freed, being deemed as no danger to the public?

Answer 2

After reading Mary Bell's story...I really wonder if it is possible to "cure" what is wrong with her..many seem to think serial killers cannot be rehabilitated or "cured"... Mary Bell showed many of the same signs/traits that most serial killers have.....she is still reluctant to admit any guilt in what she did.....granted she was an abused child when she committed these horrendous acts...but still...the way in which she killed and behaved after ...is very disturbing..I am not sure all the counseling in the world could curb these type tendencies ..nor, completely wipe clean a person's personality and replace it with another.......

the courts deemed her "cured" and that she has paid her debt to society..not to sure the mother of these boys would agree with this,....But just like child molesters..even though they have served their time and paid their "debt"...I really wouldn't want one living beside me....and if they did...I would want to know about it......I feel sorry for Mary's daughter in all this...but I am just not sure that Mary should have total anonymity... ..It doesn't seem hardly fair to the people around her not to know....she resorted to this behavior once before..what is to say that if things get rough or go bad that these tendencies won't resurface?

Answer 3

It's amazing that the reporters who hounded Bell, exposing her from her court granted anonymity weren't even born or were infants when the shocking Bell murder case happened.

Bell was an horrifically emotionally, physically AND sexually abused child--take a second to imagine what THAT must have been like for a innocent pre-teen girl--who snapped out of her mind and committed an horrendous murderous act.

I'm a death penalty advocate--but after researching the Bell case, I have to say Bell well did her time.....and continues each waking day of her life to deal with this tragedy. That's punishment enough for my satisfaction I suppose.

Bell answered for her crime for over 30 years in view of the Law--and she'll have a Judgement Day to also face one day as well.

I say let her and her daughter be.

Answer 4

No matter what you think of Mary Bell she was not even a teenager. She was a small child and suffering appalling sexual abuse. This should happen to no child. When it does the country is up in arms. But not for Mary Bell.

Not for one moment has she excused her actions. She has not manipulated her past to defend her actions. She now has lived her life quietly and she has a child of her own. Realistically the authorities will have been watching her very closely. Mary Bell lives with what she has done. Surely that combined with the punishment of years of sexual abuse and 12 years in prison is punishment enough?

Answer 5

as a reasonable person, I think that if she is truly rehabilitated and a law abiding citizen, Mary has repaid her debt to society by serving time and should be free to live her own life anonymously

as an irrational mother, I think hell no, that wack job should have fried in the electric chair but since she didnt, she should not have the luxury of living in peace after killing a child, and neither should pedophiles.

child murderers and rapists need to think twice before they commit these heinous acts. plenty of women and men have been raped and abused far worse than this and don't become heinous monsters. blaming parents or upbringing is a sorry *** excuse and does not absolve anyone from their personal accountability for their inhumane actions