Keller - Shocking True Crime Murder Cases

In November 1993, the whole of Britain was transfixed by a murder trial, the trial of ten year olds Robert Thompson and Jon Venables for the murder of 4-year-old James Bulger. The boys had abducted the toddler from a Liverpool shopping mall, walked him around town for hours, then eventually taken him down to the railway tracks where they tortured and beat him to death. It was a brutal and senseless crime, perhaps one of the most horrific in the annals of British criminal history.

Just 35 miles away in nearby Manchester, another trial was underway, this one for the murder of a 16-year-old girl named Suzanne Capper. This case did not attract the same level of attention as the other, but in many ways it involved a murder even more brutal than that of young James Bulger. Suzanne had been held captive and systematically tortured over a period of six days. Shed then been dowsed with gasoline and set alight. The perpetrators of this horrific act were six individuals who she had thought of as her friends.

Even at sixteen, Suzanne Capper had been through a lot in her life. Two years earlier, her mother and stepfather had divorced sending Suzanne into a period of uncertainty and instability. For most of those two years, shed lived a shiftless existence, shuttling between her mother, her stepfather, and the local authority. Shed also begun spending time at the home of a new friend, 26-year-old mother-of-three Jean Powell.

Powell was hardly what youd call a fitting role model for a young girl. She was a drug dealer and a fence for stolen car parts, someone who was regularly involved in violent confrontations with her neighbors. Her home at 97 Langworthy Road, Moston was a virtual turnstile for local delinquents. Most came to buy drugs or barter in stolen goods. Others, like 16-year-old Anthony Dudson, came to have sex with Powell.

Still, Suzanne appeared devoted to her new friend. She regularly babysat Powells children for free, and was always willing to help out around the house. Powell even convinced her to drop out of school and to begin working as an office cleaner in the city center. Suzannes weekly pay packet went directly to Powell who repaid her with regular beatings.

Suzanne Capper endured all of this abuse, and never wavered in her loyalty to Jean Powell, not even when Powell took in a new lodger and the mistreatment escalated. Like Powell, Bernadette McNeilly was a young mother-of-three. She had recently rented number 91 Langworthy Road, but she and Powell had quickly become such firm friends that they had decided to move in together.

If anything, McNeilly was more dangerous than Powell. In her short time living on Langworthy Road shed developed a reputation for drug and booze fueled violence. Shed threatened to burn down one neighbors house. With another, shed taken her threats a step further, setting their laundry alight. It wasnt long after McNeilly moved in with Powell that the violence against Suzanne Capper increased.

Matters eventually came to a head on December 7, 1992. Over the previous week, Powell and McNeilly had begun accumulating an array of petty complaints against Suzanne. The first of these related to a man named Mohammed Yussif, who Suzanne and Jean Powell had met in late November. According to the story Powell relayed to McNeilly, Suzanne had encouraged her to have sex with Yussif and deserved a good hiding for trying to make me go with an Arab.

Then there was the pink duffle coat that was missing from the house. Powell and McNeilly were convinced that Suzanne had taken it. Their lack of proof as to the alleged theft in no way discouraged them from plotting their revenge.

Finally, there was the most serious complaint of all. Powell and McNeilly were both promiscuous women, who routinely had sex with the succession of delinquents and drug addicts that visited the house. These included the aforementioned Anthony Dudson and Powells ex-husband Glyn. Unsurprisingly, given this lifestyle, it wasnt long before both women were afflicted with pubic lice. The blame for this passed to Suzanne, the warped logic being that she sometimes used a downstairs bed at 97 Langworthy Road. It was enough for McNeilly to convince the others that Suzanne had to pay.

On December 7, Powell and McNeilly knocked on the door at 6 Bewley Walk, where Suzanne was staying with her stepfather. They asked Suzanne if she wanted to come over to their house. Eager to please as always, Suzanne agreed. Shed barely walked through the door at 97 Langworthy Road when Anthony Dudson and Glyn Powell grabbed her.