Case #033 - Honora Parker

In the winter of 1954, two schoolgirls - Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme - murdered Pauline's mother on a remote walking track in Christchurch. Author Peter Graham recounts the events leading to Honora Parker's death.

On June 22,1954, Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker went for tea and a walk at Victoria Park in Christchurch's Port Hills with Pauline's mother, Honorah Parker.

It was there, on one of the park's remote walking tracks, that the teenage girls brutally killed Pauline's mother.

True crime writer Peter Graham wrote a book about the case called So Brilliantly Clever and he describes how 16-year-old Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, 15, became two of New Zealand's most notorious murderers.

Fearing separation, they came to believe Honora Parker was the only thing standing in the way of their being together.

At trial, the pair were found guilty but due to their age and lack of proper holding facilities for them, they only served about five years in prison.

Juliet Hulme later changed her name to Anne Perry and became a successful writer. Both she and Parker now live in the United Kingdom.

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details