| Parker-hulme Murder |
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On June 22 , 1954 , the body of Honora Rieper (née Parker) was found in Victoria Park in Christchurch. She had been killed by multiple blows to the head by a brick. On June 23 , two teenage girls were arrested, Pauline Parker (Parker's daughter, also known as Pauline Rieper) and Juliet Hulme . Pauline was a girl from a working class background; Juliet Hulme was the daughter of a distinguished physicist who was the Rector of University Of Canterbury in Christchurch. The two girls had formed a close personal friendship that their parents found disturbing. The two girls formed an elaborate fantasy life together and would sneak out and spend the night acting out stories involving fictional characters they had developed together. When their parents attempted to compel them to remain separate, they formed a plan to murder Pauline Parker's mother and escape to the United States. The two girls were tried together. The trial was a sensational affair, with speculation about their possible Lesbianism and Insanity . The girls were convicted on August 30 , 1954, and each of them spent five years in prison. They were released with the condition that they never contact one another again. After her release from prison, Juliet Hulme traveled to the United States and went on to have a successful career as a historical detective novelist under the Pseudonym Anne Perry . She now lives in Scotland . The story of the murders was loosely adapted into the French film ''Mais ne nous délivrez pas du mal'' (''Don't Deliver Us from Evil'') and more faithfully into Peter Jackson 's Oscar -nominated film, '' Heavenly Creatures ''. Perry's identity was only uncovered due to publicity surrounding the latter film. The murder was touched upon as strong evidence of moral decline less than four months later by the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents in what became known as the '' Mazengarb Report '', named after its chair, Oswald Mazengarb . In March 2006, Perry said that while her relationship with Pauline Parker was obsessive, they were not lesbians. (NZ Herald) NOTES |
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