Mary Bell

If you've ever been to Newcastle, you'll know it as a busy, modern city, with its famous nightlife, packed city centre and plenty going on.

But the Newcastle Mary Bell grew up in was a very different place.

The area of Scotswood in the late 50s and 60s was going through a huge programme of post-war redevelopment.

Old terraced houses were being condemned and knocked down.

The area apparently had lots of scrap stored there, and that car's nickname was none other than Tin Lizzy.

But regardless of whether my explanation of the place's nickname is correct, it was a rough patch of land, full of weeds, dirt and discarded building materials, with large concrete blocks scattered around it.

But for the kids of White House Road, it was simply somewhere to play, and that was the environment Mary Bell was growing up in.

But the physical surroundings were only a part of the problem.

Moments later, he was joined by two little girls who lived further down the same street.

11-year-old Mary and 13-year-old Norma.

The pair sat down and began to play with Brian and Lassie.

To anyone passing by or watching on, it looked like a perfectly ordinary, innocent summer afternoon.

Murders.

We're a true crime podcast, what do you expect? But Ben, without further ado, do you want to introduce today's case?

So today we are here to discuss, at long last, because this has been a case that's been requested for six plus years, the case of Mary Bell, Britain's youngest female killer, also known as the Tyneside Strangler.

Hmm.

It's Caitlin here, and I'm jumping in your ears today with a re-upload.

At the end of my last episode, The UK's Youngest Female Killer, I told you all about the case of Mary Bell, who many considered to be the youngest murderer in the UK, but technically she isn't.

She wasn't convicted of murder.

I told you about that at the end of my last episode, and I also told yous that the youngest murderer is actually a girl named Sharon Carr, whose case I have already covered.

Upon hearing this verdict, Katie's dad jumped from the gallery, punching the air, shouting, "Yes!" He had finally saw justice being served for his daughter after almost five years.

This verdict also gave Sharon the title of Britain's youngest female murderer, having committing the murder at only age 12.

Some people will confuse Sharon Carr with Mary Bell for this title.

Mary Bell killed two children from Newcastle, killing her first victim when she was only 10 years old herself.

Just before her 11th birthday, this young girl would go on to commit her first killing, resulting in her being dubbed the Tyneside Strangler.

This is the case of Mary Bell and the killings of Martin Brown and Brian Howe.

[mysterious music] Mary Flora Bell was born in Newcastle in the northeast of England on the 26th of May, 1957.

She was the second of four children from 17-year-old Elizabeth McCrickard, who went by the nickname Betty.

Another girl, Susan Cornish, came up and Mary did the same thing to her." Going back to what I said a couple of minutes ago about Betty's work and whether this influenced Mary, this is exactly what I'm talking about.

Mary enjoys choking other people until they change color in the face.

Is this something that she picked up from her mother? Something she was influenced by after watching her mother work? Despite knowing the violent tendencies of Mary Bell, receiving multiple concern reports which she was involved in across a couple of days, both of the girls would be let off with just warnings from the police.

So again, nothing was really done.

You get called out like that every day, though? That was, uh-

There was a lady, uh, yesterday, I think it was two days ago, Mary Bell, married, she was writing the demo, and she, uh, she, she had some nice things to say.

[laughs] Yeah, she F-bombed you, right? She had a multiple F-bombs.

Uh, multiple F-bombs.

Those left to cherish Martha's memory include her daughters, Marjorie Kathleen Juras of Davenport and Laura Glenn Juras of Titusville, Florida.

Her son-in-law, Tim Juras, her grandchildren, Caitlin, Austin, and Darren, her brother, Herbert Dennis Hahn, and his wife, Bonnie of Sonora, California, and their daughter, Elizabeth, her sister, Meryl Clark, of Cassopolis, Michigan, and her children, Toby, Lincoln, and Mary Bell, and many extended family members and dear friends.

A memorial service will be held on Tuesday, August 20, 2026, at Edwards Congregational, UCC, 3420 Jersey Ridge Road in Davenport.

Visitation will begin at 10 a.m., followed by a service at 11.