Anne Perry, the English author of
historical detective fiction, best known for her Thomas Pitt and William Monk
series, was convicted in 1954 in the murder of her friend's mother, Honora
Rieper. Perry, whose real name is Juliet Hulme, was 15 at the time. She changed
her name after serving a five-year sentence for Rieper's murder.
The Parker–Hulme murder case took
place in the city of Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand, on June 22, 1954,
when Honorah Rieper was killed by her teenage daughter, Pauline Parker, and
Perry. The murder has inspired plays,
novels, non-fiction books, and several films.
As their friendship developed,
Parker and Hulme formed an elaborate fantasy life together. They wrote plays
and books and also invented their own
personal religion, with their own ideas on morality. They rejected Christianity
and worshipped their own saints, envisioning a parallel dimension called The
Fourth World, essentially, their version of Heaven
They became obsessed with one
another, to the point that Parker's parents became concerned that the girls were
engaged in a sexual relationship. (Considered a serious mental illness at the
time)
The parents eventually separated them
so one afternoon Parker and Hulme went for a walk with Parker's mother and bludgeoned her to death with half of a brick enclosed in an
old stocking.
The girls, covered in blood, fled
but were met by Agnes and Kenneth Ritchie, owners of the tea shop, and told
them that Rieper had fallen and hit her head. Of course the plan failed, the
girls were tried in a sensational court drama filled with the speculation about the girls' possible
lesbianism and insanity. They were both convicted, and too young to be
considered for the death penalty were jailed but only for five years before
they were released.
