Transcript: 42. Precocious and Dirty-Minded Girls | New Zealand

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Our cases have been researched using open source and archive materials. It deals with true crimes and real people. Each episode is produced with the utmost respect to the victims, their families and loved ones. 


Honora Rieper was enjoying a stroll in Christchurch’s Victoria Park in the Cashmere Hills. It was a mild winter afternoon and accompanying her were her 16-year-old daughter Pauline and her best friend Juliet. The three of them had gone for a treat at the tea rooms in Victoria Park, and then decided to go for a walk in the hills.


Honora was happy to go on this outing with her daughter and Juliet. News that Juliet was leaving New Zealand to move to South Africa had been tough on Pauline. At first, Pauline wanted to go with Juliet, but her parents said that she was too young, and they would not allow it. 


Pauline had lost a lot of weight and was depressed a lot of the time. Honora and her husband Bert said she was not to visit Juliet at her family’s home, Ilam Homestead, until she was better. Pauline resented her parents and wrote in her diary:


“There seemed to be no possibility of mother relenting and allowing me to go out to Ilam. This afternoon mother told me I could not go out to Ilam again until I was eight stone and more cheerful. As I am now seven stone there is little hope…she is so unreasonable. Why could mother not die? Dozens of people are dying, thousands are dying every day. So why not mother and father too?"


The relationship between Pauline and her parents was taking a lot of strain. So when Pauline asked her mother to take her and Juliet to Victoria Park as a last goodbye, Honora was pleased. She thought her daughter had accepted the fact that her friend was leaving, and that – sad as it was – she would stay behind. 


Before they went to Victoria Park, the three ladies had lunch at the Rieper home, with Bert and their eldest daughter Wendy. Pauline and Juliet were in good spirits and the lunch was happy with many jokes and a lot of laughter. 


Nothing about their demeanour suggested that the pair had been constructing a diabolical plot. They felt that Honora was an evil force who was bent on keeping them apart. In order to be together, they had to eliminate the only obstacle in their way. So, before the sun set on Christchurch on Tuesday the 22nd of June 1954, Honora Rieper would be dead. 


>>Intro Music


Honora Parker immigrated to New Zealand from England with her mother when she was a teenager. When she was 17, she met Bert Rieper, who was 15 years older than her at the legal firm in Raetihi where both of them worked. Bert was married at the time, but he left his wife and children to start a new chapter with Honora. Because he never divorced from his wife, he could not marry Honora, and they became life partners. They moved to Christchurch in 1936, and Honora took his surname, calling herself Honora Rieper. 


Christchurch in 1950 was a beautiful unspoilt city with imposing buildings surrounded by parks and gardens. There was a good tram and bus network and it was a good city to live in. It was safe, with good schooling and educated professionals mulling about in the social scene. 


The Riepers lived in a large home, but it was rather shabby. Their working-class income was barely enough to maintain the place, but they got by. Bert got a job as the manager of a fish shop and Honora rented rooms in their home, running it like a boarding house. She was known to be a hard-working and strong-willed woman.  


The couple had sadly lost their firstborn child soon after he was born, but in 1937 another baby came. Their daughter Wendy was born and the following year, in May 1938, Pauline Yvonne Rieper was born. Ten years later they had a third child, a girl called Rosemary. She had down syndrome and was sent to a home for disabled people at the age of two and the family visited her every weekend.


But before the hardship with Rosemary, the family had bad news regarding Pauline. She was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, a bone disease. She spent nine months in hospital and had painful treatments including surgery and courses of intravenous penicillin. On her release, doctors advised her not to take part in any contact sport or rough activity, so for the most part, she did not participate in games and sport at school.


Perhaps due to her illness and isolation, Pauline was a moody child who always wore a frown. She was also temperamental and would throw tantrums often. Her mother tried to force her to change, but that only brought conflict in the home. They often fought, especially when Pauline reached her teens.


Pauline was a bit of a tomboy, with short, curly black hair who went through a phase where she insisted her school friends called her Paul. She didn’t have many friends, and mostly spent time with her older sister Wendy. 


Pauline attended Christchurch Girls High School and was quite a strong student in English and the arts. When a new student called Juliet Hulme started at the same school, the two girls became friends.


Juliet’s father, Dr Henry Hulme, was a physicist, a respected academic who had the coveted job of being rector at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. Juliet was born in England in and moved to New Zealand with her parents in 1948. Like Pauline, Juliet also suffered from illness. She contracted tuberculosis when she was six years old. Her family had the means to seek the best treatment for her and she was sent to the milder climates of the Bahamas and then South Africa to recuperate. She stayed with relatives all those years, so when she moved to Christchurch, she was in her parental home for the first time in about eight years.


She had learnt to read and write, but she missed out on going to school, battling health issues. Juliet always loved reading, it was her escape, her company. She went to school aged 10. But when she was 13 she fell ill and missed a lot of school yet again. So arriving in Christchurch, she found herself to be a full-time student, living in her family home, ready to live life as a ‘normal’ 14-year-old girl. Things that she had yearned for, for many years.


Hilda Hulme, Juliet’s mother, was glamourous and flourished as a socialite, whereas Dr Hulme was a rather awkward and shy, brainy type of guy. Hilda Hulme was a marriage counsellor, which was a new profession in the late 1940s/early 1950s. She could also be heard on Radio 3YA’s Women’s Hour, where she would talk about relationship issues.


Juliet was very intelligent and had a very high IQ. She was also beautiful, and her bright confidence drew people to her, whether she liked them or not. She was adored, but looked down on her peers, and felt they were too simple-minded for someone of her superior intellect. She was outspoken and imaginative. Her English accent was easy to listen to and when Juliet spoke, people listened. For the most part, she did her school work and kept away from the other girls. That is, until she met Pauline Rieper.


The two girls met in 1952. Both started at the school around the same time: First Pauline enrolled and soon after, Juliet arrived. They realised that they had a lot in common and had a deeper understanding of each other when it came out that they had both suffered ill health in earlier years. 


The official account of their acquaintance said: 


“The two girls at once became friendly, and their friendship developed rapidly into what may be called an intense devotion for each other.”


They both romanticised the idea of being sick, bragging to each other about their scars and time spent in hospital. They were both intelligent girls with big dreams who loved arts and literature. 


Their friendship soon evolved into an obsessive partnership. Before they knew each other, in coping with illness, both developed vivid imaginations. This was something they would start exploring together.


Pauline spent a lot of time at Juliet’s family home. Ilam Homestead was a beautiful estate: grand and spacious with extensive grounds. It was owned by the University to serve as the home of the rector, the position Dr Hulme held. It was quite a distance away from the Rieper home, which meant that Pauline would often spend weekends or school holidays at Ilam.


Hilda Hulme admitted that she had been concerned about Juliet’s social skills and was relieved that she had made a good friend so quickly. She welcomed Pauline and was glad that her vivacious daughter finally had a friend that she felt a connection with. Hilda made Pauline feel at home and treated her like one of her own children. Pauline opened up to Hilda and said that she was unhappy in her own home and that she was happier with the Hulmeses than she had ever been. 


Pauline loved the upper-class life Juliet’s family led and resented her own crummy living conditions at the boarding house. She said to Hilda that her own mother didn’t love her, and she did not understand her. In fact, according to Pauline, Honora often resorted to physical abuse – hitting or slapping Pauline if she disagreed with her. Bert Rieper would later refute this, saying that they had a harmonious family life and that him and his daughter were ‘good friends’. He would also say that she was ‘good friends’ with her mother. He never felt that his daughter was abnormal in any way.


Bert said that Pauline often went to Ilam, but she never spoke about what she did there. If anything, it was only after Juliet came into her life that she became withdrawn and moody.


Together, the teens explored a fantasy life, by acting out plays and stories, assuming characters they had created. Pauline’s favourite character was Gina and Juliet’s Deborah. That is what they called each other all the time. They spent a lot of time in this make-belief world, pretending to be medieval characters, even dressed up in elaborate costumes whenever Pauline visited Ilam. So much so, they neglected to step out of character sometimes between visits. To a degree, they both lost touch with reality.


In most of their plays - not unlike real life – Juliet would be the more glamorous one and Pauline the servant or other less important role. They also took on male alter-egos on occasion: Juliet was Nigel and Pauline was Philip.


The girls could not get enough of each other company and wanted to spend more and more time together. Pauline would sneak out to meet Juliet at Ilam after her parents had gone to bed. They would then cycle down to New Brighton Beach in the middle of the night. Sometimes they experimented with alcohol from the Hulmes’ liquor cabinet.


Both girls questioned Christianity and developed their own religion. They invented their own saints too, all of them film and music stars. They had names like “He”, “Him”, “It” and “His”. The saints were: Mario Lanza, James Mason, Harry Lime, Mel Ferrer, Suie Bjuling and Guy Rolfe. 

In their self-constructed religion, there was another dimension, called the Fourth World. It was equivalent to what heaven is to Christianity. But unlike heaven, which is reserved for the afterlife, The Fourth World could be accessed during moments of spiritual enlightenment. 


For Easter 1953, Pauline was invited to join the Hulme family on a sea break at Port Levy, about 25 miles (or 40 kilometres) south of Christchurch. The girls explored the hills and the beach and lived out their imaginative play. They believed that they entered the Fourth World through a portal in the clouds and spent an afternoon in an idyllic paradise. The experience cemented their ‘religion’ and, having achieved this plain of spiritual enlightenment together, the girls were closer than ever.


Pauline and Juliet were both at the top of their class and they knew they were bright. In fact, they saw themselves as superior to other kids their age. They believed that it was because of their intellect that they were able to access the Fourth World. Pauline once wrote: 


"We have an extra part of our brain which can appreciate the Fourth World but, meanwhile, on two days a year, we may use the key to look into that beautiful world..."


Later in 1953, Juliet fell ill again. She had TB and had to be treated at a sanitorium in Cashmere, a suburb in the south of Christchurch. Pauline wrote in her diary about how she felt when she heard the news. The diary entry showed exactly how co-dependent the two teenagers had become:


“Mrs Hulme told me they had found out today that Juliet has tuberculosis on one lung. Poor Giulietta! It is only now I realise how fond I am of her. I nearly fainted when I heard. I had a terrible job not to cry. It would be wonderful if I could get tuberculosis, too.”


The timing of Juliet’s illness was rather bad, as her parents had planned an extended visit to England. They did not cancel the trip, as they felt Juliet was in good hands at the Sanitorium. They promised Juliet they would write her often. In the end, Henry and Hilda were away for three months. Hilda was anxious as Juliet’s correspondence was very infrequent and if she DID write, she would only write short notes instead of letters. The truth was: Juliet resented them for abandoning her when she needed them most. The only way to punish them, was to stop communication.


Pauline, on the other hand, wrote Juliet every day while she was quarantined and visited as soon as it was safe to do so. When Juliet wrote to Pauline, she wrote long letters – in character – filled with imagination and melodrama. In the preceding months, the girls had created two new characters: Juliet was a prince they called Charles II, Emperor of Borovnia. She also sometimes assumed the character of Deborah, Charles’ wife and mother of his son.

Pauline was a soldier called Lance, who wrote to the prince from the front lines of war.

Juliet’s only contact with the outside world was with Pauline. 


With more time on her hands and blooming in adolescence, Pauline started noticing the opposite sex. Although she missed Juliet and obsessively wrote to her, with her best friend out of the way, she had more space to explore other interests. She pursued an older boy and landed herself in trouble with her father. Her boyfriend was a student at the university, called Nicholas. He was a boarder at the Rieper home and the two had a brief, but passionate affair. Although Bert Rieper had kicked Nicholas out, Pauline would still sneak out to meet him.


Hilda and Henry returned to Christchurch, and ten days later, they were allowed to take Juliet home. Juliet could not forgive her parents for abandoning her and the relationship became increasingly strained.


When Pauline heard that Juliet was being released from the Sanitorium, she immediately broke things off with Nicholas, incidentally on the 28th October which was Juliet’s birthday. Pauline spent all her free time with Juliet and their relationship intensified once again. They would write together and act out their stories. The content of their writing became somewhat darker. It was murder mysteries with violent undertones: fighting scenes, scenes of murder and also some scenes in the bedroom. The stories were melodramatic and exactly what a teenager with an over-romanticised view of life would write. Both girls’ school work suffered because of their obsession with each other and their constant writing and acting together.


Both sets of parents noticed the unhealthy behaviour and felt that the relationship was too much. Pauline’s mom asked Dr Hulme to meet and they discussed the ‘problem’. Henry Hulme was eager to meet with Honora, as it opened the door to speak frankly with her. He was concerned about Pauline’s influence on Juliet. He told Honora that, when Pauline stayed at Ilam, the girls would bath together, and they shared a bed.


Honora was shocked but took the advice of Henry Hulme. Firstly, the girls were banned from seeing each other. Honora also took Pauline to a doctor, as they suspected she was gay. In the 1950s in New Zealand, homosexuality was considered to be a kind of mental illness. The doctor tried to encourage Honora, by saying that although he believed Pauline did in fact suffer from this infliction, he believed she would grow out of it. 


Honora was embarrassed by the whole thing and scolded Pauline, imploring her to change. Although Henry Hulme said that Pauline was the bad influence on Juliet, the Riepers felt that it was the other way around: that Juliet was the one who had had a bad influence on Pauline. So, when the Hulmes went to Port Levy over Christmas of 1953, they were relieved to have a break from them.


Both sets of parents underestimated the young girls’ determination to be together. Once the Hulmes were back in Christchurch at the beginning of 1954, the girls saw each other as often as they could, despite the ban imposed by Honora Rieper. The girls would sneak out and get together, escaping into their fantasy world. Hilda and Henry Hulme knew the girls still saw each other but did not alert Honora. They were perhaps too caught up in their careers and separate lives to realise what was happening.


Pauline’s diary of February 13th 1954 made it clear that she was not impressed with her mother’s attempt to keep her and Juliet apart:


“She is most unreasonable. I also overheard her making insulting remarks about Mrs Hulme while I was ringing this afternoon. I was livid. I am very glad because the Hulmes sympathise with me and it is nice to feel that adults realise what Mother is. Dr Hulme is going to do something about it I think Why could not Mother die? Dozens of people are dying all the time, thousands, so why not Mother and Father too. Life is very hard.”


Pauline and Juliet hatched a plan to go to America together. They wanted to live in New York and sell their books to the largest publishers in the world. They would then go to Los Angeles, where they would make films, based on their novels and be famous. This plan was serious, evidence exists of Pauline obtaining quotes for fares from shipping companies.


They needed money and were determined to get it by any means. Pauline even went to her father’s fish shop with the intention of taking money from the safe, but the plan was thwarted when a police officer came into the store.


Around this time, a man called Bill Perry had moved into an apartment at Ilam Homestead. He had moved in at Hilda’s insistence, as he was an acquaintance of hers. She met at the marriage guidance council, soon after he moved to New Zealand from Canada. Bill left his wife, before moving into Ilam Homestead. Juliet suspected her mother was having an affair with Bill Perry and walked in as they were having a cup of tea together in bed. Juliet used the situation to her advantage. She threatened to expose the affair, unless they gave her money for her and Pauline to go to the States. Hilda and Bill told her that Henry Hulme already knew about the affair and that he agreed that they could live together as a threesome.


This arrangement did not work out and before long, Henry filed for divorce. To make things worse for the once-esteemed Dr Hulme, he also lost his job at the university, after siding with a rival academic institution. The board gave him the opportunity to resign after a vote of no confidence. Juliet’s whole world was falling apart, she realised that her family’s time at Ilam Homestead was coming to an end.


However, she felt that this could be the best opportunity for her and Pauline to go to America, away from family drama and an uncertain future. But Juliet’s parents had other plans for her.


Dr Henry Hulme decided to go back to England, and it was decided that Juliet would be sent to relatives in South Africa, as the climate was better for her health. And ultimately, because that was far away from Pauline Parker, although they did not spell that out.


Juliet and Pauline were devastated and refused to accept the fact that they would live worlds apart. Pauline spoke to her parents and told them that she wanted to go to South Africa with Juliet. Juliet’s parents pretended to be OK with it and said that they would pay for Pauline to join Juliet. But they had no intention of doing so. They knew that the Riepers would never have allowed it and made only one condition to their offer: Honora Rieper had to agree. 


Of course Honora refused, as Pauline was only 15 years old and had not finished school. Honora and told Pauline to stop asking her about it, as the topic was not open for discussion. Honora was quietly relieved that Juliet was leaving as she felt that the friendship was toxic. However, she allowed Pauline to see Juliet as much as she wanted to before Juliet were supposed to leave.


Pauline detested her mother for standing in her way. Pauline planned on running away to South Africa, but as she was a minor, she could not get a passport without her parents’ consent. She was furious and felt the only obstacle between her life of freedom and fame with Juliet, was her mother.


On April 28th 1954, things had reached fever pitch. Pauline wrote in her diary that she had decided to kill her mother:


"Anger against mother boiled up inside. Suddenly, a means of ridding myself of this obstacle occurred to me. If she were to die..." 


Pauline told Juliet about her plan, and although Juliet was nervous, she did not – in Pauline’s words – ‘disagree violently’. Pauline’s diary shows that she was mulling it over, as she did not want to go to a Borstal (well, juvenile facility). If she were to kill her mother, it had to look like an accident.


Meanwhile, the two girls were obsessively close, spending every waking moment together. In June, Pauline had a diary entry, that would be significant later on. We have adapted the quote, as she used nicknames that could cause confusion


“I dreamt about [Mario Lanza] for the second time and [Juliet] about [Mel Ferrer], also for the second time. We behaved exactly the same way in each other’s dreams, so have put it down to telepathy.”


Juliet was set to leave for South Africa in the first week of July. Both sets of parents agreed that Pauline could stay at Ilam Homestead for the most of June, so the two could spend the last bit of time together.


The time they had was an emotional roller coaster of uber-fondness, tears and evil plans. On the 19th of June, Pauline’s diary entry read:


"...our main idea for the day was to moider Mother. ...it's a definite plan we intend to carry out. We have worked it out carefully and are thrilled by the idea. Naturally, we feel a trifle nervous, but the pleasure of anticipation is great.”


Two days later, Pauline returned home after 10 days at Ilam and she was in high spirits. Honora even commented that she was helpful around the house and assisted her with chores and kept her company. She described her daughter as being ‘bright’ on that day.

But something else was on Pauline’s mind. Her attitude was all part of the plan, she wanted to pacify her mother, put her at ease. She suggested to her mother that they go to Victoria Park the next day, with Juliet, and Honora agreed, as she felt her daughter was finally looking better, happy even. On June 21st Pauline wrote:

"Juliet rang and we decided to use a rock in a stocking rather than a sandbag. We discussed the moider. I feel keyed up, as if I were planning a surprise party."

Then the morning of the 22nd of June, Pauline was ready for action. 

"The day of the happy event. I am writing a bit of this on the morning of the death. I felt very excited and the-night-before-Christmassy last night. I didn't have pleasant dreams, though."

Juliet arrived at the Rieper home around lunchtime. She joined the family for lunch, Bert Rieper was home for lunch too. Without anyone in the Rieper family’s knowledge, Juliet had brought a half brick from home and snuck it to Pauline, who wrapped it in a stocking and hid it in her shoulder bag.

They had lunch, with Pauline and Juliet joking and giggling. Everyone thought the girls were quite silly, but nonetheless, it was good to see Pauline laugh for once. After lunch the two teenagers and Honora hopped on a bus and made their way to Victoria Park.

The three of them stopped by the tearooms and had tea and treats. Then it was time for a walk, before they caught the bus home. But the 45-year-old Honora Rieper would never go home again.

As they walked, Pauline led the way, Honora was in the middle and Juliet tailed at the back. Honora commented on how beautiful the view was, but the girls were too pre-occupied to engage. Their plan had been set in motion: Juliet dropped a pink stone on the path, so when they turned to head back, Pauline pointed it out to her mother.

As Honora had a closer look, Pauline launched the attack. She pulled the half a brick, stuffed into a stocking and hit her mother over the head. Honora turned around and saw that her daughter was her assailant. Pauline kept on swinging the stocking at her mother’s head, striking her in the face. Juliet joined Pauline and helped her, hitting Honora with the stockinged brick. The girls thought that the murder would be like in the movies: one blow and Honora would drop to the ground, but it didn’t work like that. Honora’s death was slow and violent.


Pauline and Juliet knew they had to continue the assault until Honora no longer breathed. They hit her repeatedly. Altogether, Honora had 45 wounds – of which 25 were to her head and face. 


The girls, covered in blood, then ran back to the tea rooms and asked for help. They told owners Agnes and Kenneth Ritchie that Honora had slipped on some rocks and hit her head. By the time Kenneth and a man who worked for him reached Honora, she had already died. They found her body about 430ft (or 130m) from a footpath in a wooded area. She was lying on her back and there was an awful amount of blood.


Kenneth returned to the tearooms and called an ambulance. He also called Dr Henry Hulme and asked him to come to the park. Pauline and Juliet were in the tearooms and didn’t want to go back to the scene. The Ritchies remembered that Pauline was quiet, and Juliet agitated. After seeing the death scene, Kenneth felt that Honora’s death was no accident. He asked the girls to repeat the story of what had happened, but they didn’t want to speak to him. 


Henry Hulme arrived and took Juliet and Pauline back to Ilam. The girls told him that Honora’s death was an accident and refused to talk about it any further. When they arrived home and Hilda saw the blood, she immediately acted, telling the girls to have a bath and she then sent their bloodied clothes to the dry cleaner.


Back at Victoria Park, an ambulance arrived 3:55pm. The emergency worker saw the scene and immediately knew that he would not be able to save Honora. He asked Kenneth Ritchie to call the police, as he too thought that this was no accident. 


First police officers at the scene described it as such:


“It was the body of a middle-aged woman, lying on her back on the path with her head down the hill. One of her shoes was off. Various articles were lying around her. Her head was very severely injured, and a stream of blood had flowed down hill and congealed. Her lower denture was lying near her jaw. Her stockings were mud stained, with perhaps some blood stains. Both arms were mud stained and blood stained. A half brick was lying near her head. There was no blood on the path a few yards in either direction.”


The officer was told that it had been an accidental fall but looking around he could see no rocks or anything that could have caused her death in this way, she simply had too many injuries to her body. It was the brick and bloodied stocking that made police realise they were dealing with a murder. There was no attempt to hide the murder weapon, it simply laid on the ground, close to the body.


The Pathologist ruled the cause of death as skull fracture and head trauma. The blunt murder weapon was ‘wielded with considerable force.’ Honora also had bruises on the neck which showed that she was forcibly held by the neck, although she was not strangled. Hair found on the stocking (which held the half brick), matched the texture and colour of Honora's hair.


Because of the extreme violence at the scene, police assumed the murder was committed by a man, and someone who knew the victim, it seemed too personal to be a random attack. They informed Bert Rieper about his wife’s death and asked him to make his way to Victoria Park. Bert was understandably shocked. When he arrived at the scene it was clear to him that he was their prime suspect. But Bert was at work all afternoon and his co-workers could place him there for the entire time. He gave police permission to search his home, as he had nothing to hide. During this search, they found Pauline’s diary, which held the blueprint for Honora’s murder. It had been in the making for months.


Police went to Ilam to speak to both Pauline and Juliet, on the evening of the murder. They interviewed them separately, starting with Pauline. She stuck to her story that her mother’s death was an accident. She said that Honora had tripped, which caused her to fall and bump her head on a half brick that was lying on the path. As a shock reaction or something, her mother kept banging her head again and again and could not seem to stop. The police asked her about the bloodied stocking. When police found the stocking, it was no longer holding the brick. In the force of the attack, the stocking tore and the brick went flying, landing where it was found. Pauline said she used the stocking to clean up some of her mother’s blood. This contradicted her diary entry and police knew she was lying.


When it was Juliet’s turn to be interrogated, she repeated – almost verbatim – what Pauline had said. Police told her that they did not believe this version. With some pressure on her, Juliet broke down and told police she had walked up ahead when she heard screaming and crying. She went back to where Pauline and her mother were and saw that Honora was dead. This is when Pauline told her that Honora had slipped.


Police did not quite have enough evidence to arrest Juliet, but they arrested Pauline that same night. Once in custody, she confessed, but she would not give a reason as to why she killed her mother. She was very clear on the fact that Juliet had nothing to do with Honora’s murder. 


According to Hilda Hulme, Juliet was ‘in a state of collapse’ when police took Pauline away. When she put Juliet to bed, she insisted on reciting all her favourite poems over and over until she fell asleep. Hilda felt that her daughter was not in touch with reality at that moment in time.


After digging a bit deeper into Pauline’s diary, police realised that Juliet was every bit as culpable as Pauline and the following morning, they arrested her too. 


Arrest & Trial

In preparation for the trial, authorities realised that Honora and Bert were never married. For legal reasons, they used her maiden name, Parker, in the case. Pauline was also referred to as Pauline Parker in the case and media, the name that most people in New Zealand got to know rather well in the mid-1950s. 


To say the case caused a massive scandal, would be an understatement. The media coverage was huge: the rector of the university’s daughter involved in a brutal murder… Whispers of a lethal lesbian love affair were rippled through the country and all eyes were on court procedures in Christchurch.


There was a stampede of local people who wanted to secure a spot inside the court room and watch the drama unfold first-hand. Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme were tried together, and both pleaded NOT guilty. 


Bert Rieper did not attend the court hearings and only came on the day he had to testify. One can only imagine the nightmare he was going through: he had lost his life partner and his daughter was the one who had killed her. He had to hold down his job and keep the boarding house going, while supporting Wendy and their youngest daughter, Rosemary who had special needs. The story of the trial was everywhere, on the front pages of newspapers, on the radio… And he had essentially lost two of his loved ones, as murderess Pauline was a stranger to him.


During the trial, the girls acted superior to everyone around them, even as felons accused of murder. They sat next to each other in court, and were seen scribbling notes to each other and giggling, they did not show any remorse whatsoever.


Pauline’s diary was the key piece of evidence. Her own words were used against her, proving that the murder was pre-mediated. 


Many of the entries were sexually charged and it was interpreted that the girls had a sexual relationship. Both denied the allegations as they were clearly obsessed with their ‘Saints’, who were all male. It is possible that the girls experimented together at a time of sexual awakening, perhaps they satisfied themselves, not each other. What exactly happened behind closed doors, only the two of them would really know.


Because homosexuality was regarded as metal illness at the time, the Defence wanted to show that the girls were insane. This did a lot of harm, as gay people were regarded to be dangerous and evil and these two murderous teens were the poster-girls for anti-gay campaigners. 


Three psychologists were brought in to testify. There was a sense of over-psychologizing, trying to understand why two seemingly normal girls could be so cruel.


Prolific psychologist of the time, Dr Reginald Medlicott also said the girls suffered from ‘folie a deux’. ‘Folie a deux’, or shared psychosis is a telepathic condition where two people share the same delusional beliefs. Typical individuals diagnosed with this condition are socially and physically isolated and do not have a lot of interaction with people other than themselves. Dr Medlicott stated that Pauline and Juliet’s homosexuality and paranoia were symptoms of the condition. 


The general conclusion was that, although the girls were delusional about what they thought about themselves, they knew the difference between wrong and right. They planned the murder and they knew that murder was wrong. Juliet didn’t help the defence’s argument of insanity when she said: 


"I would have to be an absolute moron not to know murder was against the law."


The Crown (or prosecution) also used the diary evidence and turned it against the defence team’s line of argument. They highlighted Pauline’s love affair with the student-boarder, Nicholas, to prove that she was straight. They also pointed out that the posse of psychiatrists gave contradictory testimony. The Crown closed with a powerful statement:


“This plainly was a cold, callously committed and premeditated murder, committed by two highly intelligent and perfectly sane girls… They are not incurably insane. My submission is they are incurably bad.”


The general feeling was that, because Pauline was not from the same high-society background as Juliet, that she was the one who had hatched the plan and pulled Juliet into the whole thing. Juliet was seen as a snob, what they called ‘hoity toity’ at the time.


Juliet was overheard in court, whispering to Pauline: 


The old girl took a lot more killing than we thought.”


A police woman reprimanded her, commenting that it was a terrible thing to say, to which Juliet responded:


“Oh, aren’t we the perfect little policewoman.”


Juliet is also believed to have had a diary, but police could never find it and thought that her family destroyed it on the day of the murder.


On the 28th of August 1954, the jury deliberated for just over two hours and both girls were found guilty. When the verdict was passed down, neither of them showed any emotion. When Juliet was asked if she wanted to see her mother one more time, she said no. Crown Prosecutor Alan Brown broke down, crying uncontrollably. The stress and emotion of the trial had taken its toll on everyone. 


Pauline and Juliet were sentenced to ‘detention during Her Majesty’s pleasure’, which means the term of their sentence was undetermined. At the time, New Zealand still had the death penalty, but the convicted murderesses were considered to be too young to be executed. 


The girls had one request and that was that they could be sent to the same prison, but the request was denied. Pauline was sent to Arohata Borstal outside of Wellington and Juliet to Mount Eden near Auckland. She was placed in solitary confinement for the first three months, seeing as she was the only underaged inmate.  In 1958, Pauline was taken to Paparua prison and Juliet to Arohata. 


The murder became the pin-up case for the Mazengrab Report, a review conducted by the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents.


Juliet’s parents did not stick around after her incarceration, they moved overseas and left her behind in prison. A newspaper article reported that Juliet had become more polite and subdued during her time in prison. Pauline on the other hand, was reported to have no remorse.


After serving only five years, both were released. They were in their early 20s and were given the opportunity to live normal lives. There was a story at the time that a condition of their release was that they were never to contact each other again, but Secretary for Justice, Sam Barnett, said that this was never the case. 


Pauline lived in New Zealand for a while after her release. She studied at Auckland University, graduating in 1964. She spent a year in Wellington at the New Zealand Library School, before she relocated to England in 1965. Having put the past behind her, she changed her name to Hilary Nathan. She considered becoming a nun as she had become a devoted Catholic. ‘Hilary’ lived in lived in the village of Hoo near Strood in Kent, where she worked as a special needs teacher. Nobody knew about her past. And that’s how she wanted it. She was secretive and elusive and would never appear in school photos.


When she left the school, she found a job, running a children’s riding school. Other than the horses and children and their parents, not many people ever saw Hilary. She lived the life of a recluse, isolating herself in her home with no TV or radio. 


She has expressed deep remorse for ending her mother’s life and refused to give interviews. In a letter to her sister, she said:


"It just all got out of hand. I don't know what happened and I just want to keep in touch with you."


When Juliet Hulme left New Zealand in 1959, she went to Italy to stay with her father and his new wife. From there she went to UK where she lived with her mom and Bill Perry. This is when she changed her name to Ann Perry.


She then moved to Southern California for a while and became a Mormon. In 1968 she returned to her home country of England and became an author of historical crime novels. In a way, the dreams she had when she was 16 did come true: she lived in America and she became an international bestselling novelist. 


Peter Jackson’s film, Heavenly Creatures, is a re-telling of Pauline and Juliet’s story. Kate Winslet plays the role of Juliet and Melanie Lynskey gives a chilling performance as the troubled Pauline. The film was inspired by a play by Angela Carter called The Christchurch Murders. 


Juliet’s new identity as Ann Perry was revealed around the time of the film’s release in 1994. In 2006 she made a statement, saying that although her and Pauline’s relationship was an obsessive one, they were never lovers. They were both straight. She also said that she helped Pauline commit the murder, as she believed that Pauline would have ended her own life had she not. She only got involved to keep Pauline from killing herself. 


Pauline’s home in Kent revealed something about her state of mind. The new owner discovered a mural, painted by Pauline. The mural is a collection of smaller paintings, featuring two mythical creatures: one blonde and beautiful and the other one with dark hair. There is a strong resemblance to 16-year old Juliet and Pauline. A recurring theme in the pictures is the fact that Juliet’s character wants to fly away, while Pauline’s character is holding on, trying her best to pull her back.


When Pauline (or Hilary Nathan) heard about the release of film Heavenly Creatures, she sold her home in Kent and moved to the Orkney Islands. Unbelievably, only 120km away from where Juliet lives. 


If you’d like to read more about this case, have a look at the resources used for this episode in the show notes. 


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