True Crime Database

Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme

Inspired by a famous homicide case in which two teenage girls, best friends, bludgeoned one's mother to death in New Zealand, film director and producer Peter Jackson decided to create a screenplay about these two girls in 1994. Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet were cast as the two perpetrators and acted out various scenes of two girls being entirely dependent on one another, almost obsessive of each other. The film garnered a huge amount of positive criticism, praising both the performances and the directing, even going as far to win an Academy Award. As attention grew towards the case in particular, the mystery of one woman's origins were investigated by the public. This woman was British mystery and crime author Anne Perry. However, it was later revealed that her real identity was Juliet Hulme, one of the subjects of the film in question; she had been living under a new identity ever since her release from prison. But what exactly happened that made Juliet Hulme and her accomplice, Pauline Parker, go into hiding?

To understand why events escalated to the extent that they did, we have to take a look at the backgrounds of both girls. In some ways, the two girls were complete opposites. Pauline Parker, a native to Christchurch, New Zealand, was the second child of Herbert and Honora Reiper, born on 26th May 1938. The family ran a fish shop, were working class, and were well known by the locals of Christchutch, however not many were aware that Herbert and Honora were unmarried. Having a child out of wedlock, during this period in time, was considered shameful. Juliet Hulme was born in London, England on 28th October 1938 to wealthy physicist Dr Henry Rainsford Hulme. Juliet had travelled the world for various reasons by herself and was reuinted with her family in 1951 when they moved to the Christchurch area.

In many ways, however, the two girls were incredibly similar. Pauline had osteomyelitis, a bone infection that caused her to suffer from chronic leg pain for years on end. Juliet had been diagnosed with tuberculosis and was sent to live in the Bahamas for a while, in the hopes that the hot weather would be able to help with the infection. The two girls, upon meeting at Christchurch Girls' High School, bonded over their respective conditions. On top of that, the two of them both found it very difficult to make friends, both being considered stuck up and spoilt by their peers.

It was after this meeting that the two girls became best friends. They were practically inseperable. They would sneak out of their houses at night to go and see each other, create fantasy stories about their lives, involving many celebrities at the time and act them out. They referred to themselves, in these fantasies, as Gina and Deborah, two wealthy actresses living in America. Sometimes, these stories grew violent, enacting revenge on anyone they deemed unworthy. While their parents were pleased that the girls had made such good friends, the obsessiveness of their friendship started to concern them. They suspected that their relationship had sexual elements to it, which, in the 1950's, was considered to be a mental illness. In order to do what they thought was right for their children, they tried to keep them separated.

Oppourtunity for the parents struck when Juliet was diagnosed with tuberculosis once again and was hospitalised for it. At this point in time, Juliet's parents were separating – her father was returning to England and Juliet's mother was arranging for her to stay with relatives in South Africa, saying that the climate would be best for Juliet's recovery. Pauline begged to accompany Juliet but Honora would not allow it and made it clear that she wanted them kept apart. This angered both of the girls, who could not stand to be without one another, so they created a plan in order to remain together: kill Honora, run away to New York or Hollywood and become famous through their respective acting and writing talents.

The fateful day occurred on 22nd June 1954, when Juliet accompanied Pauline and Honora for a walk in Victoria Park. The three walked down a path that went under a small wooden bridge. At approximately 130 metres down this path, the girls started bludgeoning Honora to death with a brick hidden in an old stocking. The girls had swung at Honora with tremendous force and did so an alarming amount of times. They then hid the stocking and, covered in blood, ran to the main kiosk screaming for help. The girls claimed that while on a walk, Honora had slipped and hit her head and was knocked unconscious as a result. However, their story didn't make sense for a number of reasons: Honora's body was covered with major lacerations around her head, neck and face, like she had beaten; if Honora had slipped, why were the girls covered in so much blood; the police were able to find the bloody stocking with the brick not far from the crime scene, which provided a much more sound conclusion as to how Honora was killed.

The girls were tried as juveniles. Pauline was 16 at the time while Juliet was 15, so were not considered eligible for the death penalty. Throughout the trial, the questions surrounding the nature of the girls' friendship and their level of sanity exceeded to no amount. It was a media sensation at the time, especially considering that the killers were two young girls who had planned it together, which was essentially unheard of during the 1950's. Due to their age, the girls were sentenced to serve an indefinite amount of time in prison, with the possibility of being released, but were under strict conditions under the judge to never be contact with each other again. Both girls served a 5 year sentence before being released with new identities.

Since the discovery of Anne Perry's real identity, she was able to clear up that the relationship between her and Pauline was never sexual and that they were just very close friends. She maintains that the two have never been in contact since the trial and have both lived very different lives. Anne Perry moved around from various countries, including the United States, before settling back down in England and becoming a successful mystery author and has been a mormon since 1968. Pauline Parker moved to a small town in Kent, ran a riding school for children and is a practicing Roman Catholic. Both have reportedly felt incredible remorse for the murder of Honora Reiper and have spent their whole lives trying to make themselves better people as a result.