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.
CATHIE WILKIESON
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.’
NO CARING FOR THE CARERS
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.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
WICKED STEPMOTHERS
Stepfathers 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.
SUMAIRIA PARVEEN
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.
TRACEY WRIGHT
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.
DAILY ABUSE
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.
COURT
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.
PART TWO
FATAL FATHERS
CHAPTER TWELVE
SETTLING SCORES
The ending of a marriage or cohabitation – especially one which has produced children – is never easy. But, at least the person who chooses to end the relationship has made the positive decision to move on. In contrast, the person who has been ditched can be left with feelings of rage and hate.
Men who have previously been violent towards their partners often continue to terrorise them after a formal separation – indeed, a battered woman is most at risk immediately after she leaves her aggressive spouse. A percentage of these men will get their own back on the woman who has deserted them by killing their offspring. Sometimes, in an act of especial cruelty, they will phone their ex-wife seconds before they kill the children and tell her to listen to their dying cries.
Most of these men take their own lives, or at least attempt to. There are around 520 such murder-suicides in America every year. In Britain, fathers kill approximately 16 children annually, usually following the breakdown of their relationship with their wife or girlfriend. Of children killed by a parent, 53 per cent are murdered by their fathers and 47 per cent by their mothers.
MICK PHILPOTT
A househusband who lived off welfare benefits, Mick Philpott had been violent towards women throughout his adult life and treated them as servants rather than equals. His reckless plan to frame a lover for leaving him would rob six innocent children of their lives…
Philpott’s determination to completely control his partners was in evidence at 19 when he thought that his 15-year-old girlfriend Kim Hill was wearing too short a dress. Enraged that she might be attractive to other men, he shot her with a crossbow. On another occasion he took a hammer to her knee. Like most abusive men, he was good at finding young and vulnerable victims and persuading them that they were partly to blame for their own abuse.
Philpott was superficially gregarious and could be the life and soul of the party. He liked to sing and dance and knew just how to impress Kim so she repeatedly forgave him and even agreed to get engaged. At this stage in his life he had thick black hair and was neatly bearded, showing no sign of the toothless, prematurely balding man that he would become.
But after two years of her boyfriend’s fiery temper and attempts to control her, K
im had had enough. She waited until he returned to his army unit and then sent him a letter in July 1978 breaking off their engagement. It seemed the ideal time to escape when he was stationed far away. But, determined to wreak his revenge, he went AWOL and travelled to her home in Spondon, Derbyshire, breaking into her bedroom in the early hours of the morning and stabbing her 26 times. When her mother, a nurse, intervened he stabbed her too, inflicting 11 serious wounds. He would later tell a friend that he attempted to damage all of Kim’s major organs during this prolonged attack. He caused lifelong damage, the knife penetrating both lungs, her liver (she would go on to develop liver cancer), bladder and one of her kidneys. He told paramedics ‘You’re wasting your time with that one. She’s a goner.’ She did indeed stop breathing but paramedics brought her back to life.
Convicted of Kim’s attempted murder – and of GBH towards her mother – he was sentenced to seven years, of which he served less than half.
FIRST MARRIAGE
For the next 20 years, Mick Philpott continued to intimidate and manipulate women. He married Pamela Lomax in 1986 and they had three children but she found him increasingly domineering, though she was too afraid to leave. Philpott cheated on her with other women and she even found him in bed in their house with one of his teenage lovers. She was secretly relieved when he left her for someone else.
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