Parents Who Kill--Shocking True Stories of the World's Most Evil Parents (10 page)

W
hen Joanne Hill drowned her four-year-old daughter Naomi in her North Wales home, much was made of the fact that the little girl had cerebral palsy. Lawyers noted that Hill was ashamed of the child and had wanted to give her up for adoption, but was over-ruled by her husband, who loved Naomi very much.

But this was in no way a mercy killing. Naomi’s disabilities were mild – she needed leg braces to walk and had hearing difficulties – and she was a happy and contented child who loved spending time with her father. She made up stories to entertain him and was described as a chatterbox.

It’s likely that Joanne Hill would have struggled to bond with any child as she had a history of mental problems and depression. After the murder she continued to display bizarre behaviour, going out drink-driving for eight hours with her daughter’s corpse in the boot of her car. At Chester Crown Court in September 2008, a jury decided that she was not
mentally ill at the time that she drowned her daughter and she was sentenced to serve at least 15 years. But medical experts said that she was now suffering from a serious mental illness and she was flanked in court by two nurses and a security guard. The 31-year-old had been in prison on remand, but, after the trial, the judge ordered that she be taken to a psychiatric facility.

Women (and men, as a later chapter will delineate) who resort to genuine mercy killings tend to fall into two camps. Some are caring for a terminally-ill child and are desperate to spare them further suffering or indignity. The second group are looking after adult children with multiple disabilities who are evidencing distress. As these women grow old and less able, they fear for the future of their handicapped son or daughter. These are genuine fears, as care in the community can be woefully inadequate.

Wendolyn and her architect husband Paul managed to give their son Patrick, who was born with Down’s syndrome, a happy childhood. A high-functioning teenager, he was even able to attend college. The family, which included two other sons, lived in the picturesque village of Long Crendon, in Buckinghamshire, England. But, in his twenties, Patrick developed autism and his behaviour deteriorated markedly.

He became even more unstable in his thirties. After going to bed at night he would sleep for two hours, then wake up screaming – and his screams would continue until breakfast time. The daytime was little better as he would often shout out the same word again and again. He also began to batter himself about the head, punching himself in his right eye and causing permanent blindness in July 2003. It was very hard for his ageing mother to control him as by now he weighed 16 stone.

Wendolyn had respite during the day when Patrick went to a care centre, but this support ended in 2003 due to funding cuts. As the months passed, he became increasingly self-destructive and was evidently deeply distressed. He also hit his parents if they tried to intervene. Wendolyn took him to a doctor who was very sympathetic (during the visit Patrick punched himself in the face 20 times) and admitted in a report that even controlling the heavily-built thirty-something for a few minutes in the surgery had been impossible, that he had no idea how Wendolyn coped.

But still social services refused to provide respite care, though she wrote to them again in 2004, noting ‘The crisis is not going to go away. I really must have some support very soon.’ An internal county council email in May of that year acknowledged this, stating that the situation was urgent. Wendolyn and Paul were now in their mid-sixties and ill with exhaustion. Like 72 per cent of full time carers, Wendolyn was also deeply depressed.

On 28 March 2005, 36-year-old Patrick played the same Elton John record over and over again, then repeatedly shouted the word ‘Elton.’ Half crazed with lack of sleep, his 67-year-old mother gave him 14 sleeping pills and, when he was deeply asleep, put a plastic bag over his head and suffocated him. Retreating to her garden shed, she slashed her arm and neck with a knife and lay down to die. She was found the following morning by her distraught husband and rushed to hospital.

Everyone who knew her was sympathetic, aware that she’d been sleep deprived for many years and that the last 20 had been comparatively joyless. The villagers even sent her a book of supportive messages and said that they wanted to welcome her back into the community. The tragedy was compounded shortly afterwards when 70-year-old Paul died of natural
causes. Wendolyn, who constituted no danger to the public, was released on bail.

At Oxford Crown Court in November 2005, the 67-year-old denied murder but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Supported in court by her two surviving sons and other family members, she was given a two year suspended sentence and walked free.

Following a difficult pregnancy in Hamilton, Ontario, Cathie’s son Ryan was ill from the moment that he was born. At 18 weeks old, he had eye surgery which failed to correct his partial blindness and, at two years old, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. He was also deaf but, with the aid of a special hearing aid, he eventually learned how to speak. A few years later, he developed a debilitating bone condition which left him wheelchair bound.

Despite her son’s multiple infirmities, Cathie was only entitled to 12 hours of respite care a week. She enrolled Ryan in high school but they were unable to cope with his special needs and he had to leave. In autumn 1994 she begged the authorities to fund home care for Ryan but this was refused.

That same year, she – and the rest of Canada – read about farmer Robert Latimer’s mercy killing of his 12-year-old daughter, Tracy. A quadriplegic who had feeding difficulties and weighted just under three stone, Tracy had the abilities of a three-year-old and was in constant pain. When the authorities said that they were about to permanently confine her to a hospital, her distressed father decided to act. He put his daughter into the cab of his lorry before pumping carbon monoxide into it then sat in the back of the truck, watching, as she became drowsy and died. Afterwards, he told medics that she had died of natural causes, but an autopsy showed that her
system was filled with carbon monoxide. He was sentenced to 10 years without the possibility of parole.

Cathie clearly identified with the man’s plight and told a friend that she loved Ryan too much to let him die alone, that she would have sat in the vehicle with him as it filled with fumes. On 5 December 1994, she did just that. The 43-year-old mother and her 16-year-old son were found dead a few hours later in a car in his grandparents’ garage, alongside a note from Cathie which said that ‘she could not go on any longer and could not leave him behind.’

In October 2008, British mother Claire Bates, 37, spoke movingly to a woman’s magazine about the difficulties of being the mother of a severely-disabled child. Her son, Noah, age five, has a severe form of cerebral palsy and is also a quadriplegic. He is fed directly by a tube into his stomach, will never walk or talk and is virtually blind. He will need daily nappy changes throughout his life. Yet his parents – sleep deprived and desperate – are only given four hours of respite care a month.

Claire said that she loved Noah very much but had once asked her father to put him out of his misery. She urged the public not to judge Joanne Hill (whose case is outlined at the start of this chapter) too harshly, writing ‘If we have to imprison her, we should also help her. Perhaps we are all to blame for walking by.’

S
tepfathers are statistically more likely than stepmothers to kill a child, or to systematically abuse it. Nevertheless, there have been many instances of women acting
in loco parentis
who are deeply resentful of their partner’s child from a previous relationship and subject that child to fatal levels of abuse.

Ironically, Sumairia started off as a victim of violence as she was repeatedly assaulted by her abusive husband. She left the marriage and, in January 2006, began an affair with her cousin, Abid Ikram. They shared a flat in London but were originally from Pakistan. Abid had just won custody of his son, Talha, a particularly beautiful child, whilst Sumairia had her own baby, a daughter whom she adored.

The couple often went out, leaving baby Talha alone. In March, the neglected 11-month-old was taken into care and given to foster parents, where he thrived. He learned to walk,
said his first words and became an active and happy child. But, three months later a Family Court decreed that Talha must be given back to his father and stepmother. Sumairia deeply resented this, seeing the baby boy as coming between her and her man.

In the weeks which followed, the couple regularly took the baby to casualty where he was found to have twisted his limbs and fractured three of his ribs. During one visit, his leg was found to be broken and doctors put it in a plaster cast. They believed the couple’s explanation that the child had slipped from a chair or fallen down the stairs. But Talha’s supposed accident-proneness increased and he was returned to hospital in an increasingly bruised condition. Sumairia told medical staff that his cast kept slipping off.

During the last 20 days of his life, the toddler was taken to casualty five times and was seen by at least seven different doctors but none had the chance to compare notes.

Meanwhile, his suffering continued and included being beaten and burnt with a cigarette. He was also left with a broken tibia. One injury was inflicted over a series of days, when the flesh behind his left knee was cut open progressively until the bone and tendon was exposed to the elements. But the injury which proved fatal was an untreated broken thigh bone which sent marrow deposits circulating around his body. They invaded his lungs, starving his brain of oxygen.

The couple found the 17-month-old motionless in his cot on 6 September 2006 and called an ambulance. Paramedics noted that the baby’s father appeared to be genuinely distressed at his son’s condition but his lover remained quite calm. Talha was rushed to Central Middlesex Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Horrified doctors said that he looked like he’d been in a car crash, extensively bruised and with broken bones.

Questioned by police, the pair denied abusing the toddler. Sumairia Parveen said that she’d loved the boy as if he were her own son, and Abid Ikram said that he’d never hurt his own child. Shortly after the baby’s death, Abid Ikram helped his lover travel to Pakistan: he would later be found guilty of perverting the course of justice by helping her to leave the country, knowing that a police investigation was underway.

The couple were arrested and in August 2007 they went on trial at Southwark crown court. The court heard that the 24-year-old stepmother had hated the little boy and subjected him to a catalogue of abuse, whilst his 31-year-old father watched and did nothing. On one occasion he beat the baby with a plastic cricket bat at his lover’s insistence. They were both cleared of murder but found guilty of ‘causing or allowing’ the death of Talha Ikram and were remanded in custody. Under the ‘causing or allowing’ offence, the individual who dealt the fatal blow does not have to be identified.

The following month they were sentenced to nine years in jail, and Abid Ikram got a further 12 months for perverting the course of justice. The court recommended that Sumairia Parveen be deported after her release.

Some children are doubly unfortunate, being failed by their biological parents and murdered by a step-parent. Lauren Wright suffered this fate at the hands of her stepmother, Tracey Wright.

Lauren was born on 16 July 1993, the product of a brief affair between Jennifer Bennett and Craig Wright, then both resident in Herefordshire. He denied paternity until a blood test proved that he was the father, after which he saw little of his daughter for her first three years. Jennifer didn’t want the child and often left her at a nearby pub where she was fed by
locals who took pity on her. On other occasions she phoned Craig and said that she would hit Lauren unless he came round immediately. Social workers were concerned that she was being neglected and she was placed on Herefordshire social services child protection register.

When Lauren was four, Jennifer and her latest boyfriend took her on holiday to Turkey with three of their other children. But she constantly shouted at Lauren, then dumped her at the British consulate and scratched her photo out of her passport, saying that she was no longer her child. Bewildered officials returned the frightened little girl to Britain, where she was met at the airport by Craig and his mother Christine.

Christine, who was running a pub in Norfolk, gained custody of Lauren in January 1998. She started school there, a friendly child who craved affection and was desperate to please. She thrived in her grandmother’s care. But, in May 1998, Christine’s pub failed and she moved house, got a new job and was unable to continue fostering the little girl. Lauren was returned to her father, whom she liked, and went to live with him in Welney. He soon began a relationship with
single-mother-
of-two Tracey Scarff, a playground supervisor. Months later they married and she ironically became Mrs Wright.

Tracey Wright resented Lauren from the start and treated her differently to her own natural son and daughter. On rainy days, the three would be seen walking along the road under an umbrella, whilst Lauren walked behind, soaked, carrying all of their bags.

Tracey beat Lauren with a cane, forced her to eat insects and gave her sandwiches filled with pepper. The little girl began to wet the bed and was beaten for this too and made to stand close to the fire for an hour. As soon as she got home from
school, she was sent to her room without food or water. She was regularly humiliated by Tracey, who, by now, was also humiliating Craig in the street.

Lauren’s hair began to fall out due to malnutrition and she became pale and thin. On 14 May 2000, a male neighbour made an anonymous phone call to Cambridgeshire social services, explaining that the little girl looked shell-shocked and had bruises on her face and neck. That same day, an anonymous female phoned Norfolk social services to report that the child was being abused.

The following day, Lauren was seen by a paediatrician at the local hospital who asked her about her injuries. But the battered child dutifully echoed her stepmother’s lies that she was incredibly accident-prone. She said that she’d been knocked over several times by the family Alsatian and had banged herself against a table and fallen down. One doctor was suspicious as some of the injuries looked to have been caused by a cane or stick, so he sent her to another doctor who believed the playground assistant’s account of her stepdaughter’s injuries.

In mid-April, another anonymous call was made to Norfolk social services stating that Lauren appeared to be abused. A week later social services wrote to Tracey Wright requesting a home visit. Later that month, Herefordshire social services contacted their counterparts in Norfolk to say that they were concerned about the child.

On 2 May, Tracey punched Lauren so viciously in the stomach that part of her digestive system collapsed. She began to vomit copiously and was clearly in agony. She was in no fit state to go to school, so Tracey told them she was ill with gastroenteritis. Though she lied to relatives that the six-
year-old
had seen a doctor, she did not seek medical help. When Lauren’s relatives visited her sickroom and saw her bruises,
Tracey said that Lauren had pulled a wardrobe down on top of herself.

On the morning of 8 May, Lauren got up to use the bathroom and her stepmother punched her twice in her
already-damaged
stomach: the blows were observed by her son who would later testify in court that he was also punched at times by his mother. Lauren died in bed within minutes, though Tracey Wright didn’t discover this until shortly after midday. She ran screaming to relatives who phoned the emergency services before desperately beginning mouth-to-mouth. Paramedics arrived quickly, but rigor mortis had already begun to set in. That night, Tracey and Craig went to the pub together. Shortly afterwards, they were again seen in the pub where Tracey was laughing and joking, but Craig looked subdued.

In September 2001, the couple – she by now age 31, he age 38 – went on trial at Norwich Crown Court, denying cruelty and manslaughter. Craig said that he had been at work, at the pub or out fishing and had rarely seen Lauren in the last few weeks of her life. He claimed that she got up just as he was leaving for work and was in bed when he came home. But the prosecution alleged that he must have noticed her thinning hair, stick-like arms and legs and increasingly quiet state.

Prosecutor Graham Parkins QC said ‘Tracey Wright treated this child abysmally, physically assaulting her on numerous occasions.’ He described one instance where Wright had hit the child about the head in the street, knocking her to the pavement. Her corpse had been emaciated and was covered in 60 bruises, 19 of which were on her shins and had been caused by kicks. The jury heard that, shortly before her death, she had become virtually voiceless and ‘looked like a poster child for the NSPCC.’

Later that month, the pair were found guilty of manslaughter and wilful neglect. Craig Wright, who had failed to intervene whilst his daughter was being starved and beaten to death, was given a three-year sentence. Tracey Wright was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter and five years for neglect, the sentences to run consecutively.

Ironically, Lauren’s grave in the village of South Mimms is well tended in a way that the child herself rarely was.