Special Sub-Topic: Most Infamous Murder in New Zealand Click Here To Play: Most Infamous Murder in New Zealand

In Christchurch, New Zealand, two teen girls murdered the mother of one of the girls in 1954. What were their first names?

Pauline and Juliet. Their full names were Pauline Parker, age 16 and Juliet Hulme, age 15.

The murderers killed Pauline's mother.

t. True. Pauline's mother was known as Honora (Nora) Reiper, although she was not married to Herbert Reiper, the man she had lived with for 23 years.

The two girls plotted the murder for quite some time before it took place. Why did they decide to commit this murder?

One of the girls was moving out of the country and they thought the victim wouldn't allow the other girl to accompany her.. Juliet's parents had decided to separate and Juliet was moving away to South Africa. Pauline's mother felt they had an unhealthy relationship. They didn't want to be separated from each other and felt Mrs. Reiper would stand in the way of Pauline being able to go with Juliet.

The girls killed the victim in Victoria Parklands. How did they do it?

They beat her on the head with a brick.. They beat her 45 times about the head with a broken brick they had put into a stocking.

The girls didn't admit they'd killed Mrs. Reiper. Instead, covered in blood, they ran to the nearby caretakers cottage where there were tea rooms open to the public. They were hysterical when they got there. What did they tell the caretaker?

"Mummy fell and repeatedly hit her head". Hard to believe they had such a flimsy story. The bloodied brick and stocking were located nearby, and soon what really happened became apparent.

When the police checked the diary of one of the girls, the entire murder plot was there, along with fantastic plans for being together forever and running away to America to sell their novels to movie producers. It also seemed that the girls had a lesbian relationship. The defense team's position was that the girls were 'mad' (insane). The prosecutor in the case said they were simply what?

Dirty-minded little girls. Referring to the entries in the diary, although there was never explicit information of lesbianism, the prosecutor played upon the 1950's attitude toward homosexuality, calling them "dirty-minded little girls".

In spite of pleading Not Guilty, it took the jury less than three hours to find them guilty. Their sentence was "to be held at Her Majesty's Pleasure", which is an indeterminate amount of time based upon rehabilitation of the criminal. As a result, how much time did the girls spend in prison?

They were let out after 5 years.. The girls were imprisoned at a time in New Zealand that the focus was on rehabilitation of young criminals rather than punishment. They both took classes and were model prisoners and so were released as soon as they were deemed rehabilitated. Although later they did admit to the crime, neither acknowledged feelings of guilt.

The girls never saw each other again. After their release, they both moved out of New Zealand. Juliet changed her name and eventually became a well known crime mystery novelist. Among her novels is "The Cater Street Hangman", which was turned into a television movie. What did Juliet change her name to?

Anne Perry. She moved to Scotland and interestingly her novels are murder mysteries. Juliet, a Mormon convert, was able to keep her true identity a secret until 1994, when her real name and what she had done came out.

Pauline also changed her name and it was even harder to track her down. She was eventually found to be living in which country?

England. Pauline changed her name to Hilary Nathan; she is considered very reclusive, and is thought to be eccentric. For a while though, she did work for quite some time in the teaching profession. She owns a riding school in a small village and teaches youngsters to ride horses. The villagers where she has lived all these years were totally amazed to find out her true identity. She is a convert to Catholicism and has attended Mass every day for 30 years. In 1997 she left England and moved to Orkney in Scotland.

What is the name of the rather strange, fantasy 1994-95 movie based on the Parker-Hulme case starring Kate Winslet?

Heavenly Creatures. The title is taken from entries in Pauline's diary, wherein she notes that she and Juliet are heavenly creatures who need not heed the rules of mere mortals. The movie was directed by Peter Jackson and received many rewards. You can read more about this fascinating case online at: http://library.christchurch.org.nz/Heritage/Digitised/ParkerHulme/ and there is an indepth site about the movie and the case at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/2194/