When Hilary Nathan passed away at the age of 88 on the Orkney island of South Ronaldsay earlier this month it was with the minimum of fuss.
asserted
it → pass → fuss
Her death was registered in the islands’ capital of Kirkwall but no date was given and even the local sleuths on The Orcadian newspaper have no idea where her funeral was held or how many people attended it.
asserted
people → register → it
And the nice lady who answered the phone at Braeburn Court, the assisted living centre in St Margaret’s Hope (population 550) where Nathan lived up to her death, would only say: ‘I’m not able to comment at all.
asserted
I → answer → death
It’s all testament to one of the most successful disappearing acts in criminal history.
asserted
It → ’ → history
For Hilary Nathan was better known as Pauline Parker, a notorious murderer.
asserted
Nathan → know → Parker
At the age of 16, she bludgeoned her mother to death with the help of her best friend Juliet Hulme, using half a brick wrapped in a stocking.
asserted
she → bludgeon → stocking
In those days, she lived in Christchurch, a sleepy provincial city in New Zealand, known for its English manners and social respectability, where a scandal of this nature seemed almost unthinkable.
asserted
scandal → live → nature
Naturally, the Press had a field day.
asserted
Press → have → day
‘Dirty-minded girls plotted to kill mother’ blared one headline.
asserted
headline → plot → mother
And the coverage persisted in the weeks that led up to the opening of the trial of the century in August 1954.
asserted
that → persist → August
So intense was the interest in the case that the girls were brought to court each day in a prison van that backed up to the doors of the court so they could enter unobserved.
Juliet Hulme, left, and Pauline Parker in 1954.
uncertain
Hulme → bring → 1954
Aged 15 and 16, they bludgeoned Parker’s mother Honorah to death in Christchurch, New Zealand
Both were convicted of murder after a six-day trial but, too young to be given the death penalty, the girls ended up serving just five-and-a-half years in different prisons before being given their freedom.
asserted
girls → age → freedom
Upon their release, both left New Zealand for the UK, where they changed their identities.
asserted
they → leave → identities
Juliet became Anne Perry, a hugely successful crime novelist who, before her death in 2023, had written more than 100 books with sales in excess of 26million.
asserted
who → become → 26million
Pauline, meanwhile, opted for total obscurity, changing her name to Hilary Nathan and becoming an apparently much-loved horse-riding instructor.
asserted
Pauline → opt → Nathan
Many will be familiar with the case because of Heavenly Creatures, New Zealand-born director Peter Jackson’s Oscar-nominated 1994 film that dramatised the murder and the girls’ obsessive friendship.
asserted
that → bear → murder
The film, which starred Kate Winslet as Juliet in her first major screen role, prompted renewed interest in the real women behind the story and led journalists to uncover both of their new identities, igniting a media frenzy.
asserted
which → star → frenzy
Once exposed, their reactions could hardly have been more different.
uncertain
reactions → expose → ?
Perry acknowledged her past and went on to give numerous interviews about the case.
asserted
Perry → acknowledge → case
But Nathan was appalled by the intrusion into her life in the shadows.
asserted
Nathan → appal → shadows
When journalist Chris Cooke traced her to her home in Hoo, near Rochester in Kent, she insisted that he had ‘got the wrong person’.
asserted
he → trace → person
After other reporters descended on the village, Nathan sold her house and retreated to what was clearly the most remote location she could think of: The Orkney islands, ten miles off the northernmost tip of mainland Scotland.
The story’s enduring grip on the public imagination is understandable.
uncertain
grip → descend → imagination
Matricide is among the rarest forms of homicide and, when committed by an adolescent daughter, it is rarer still.
asserted
it → commit → daughter
The fact that Pauline had outlined the girls’ plans extensively in her diary, extracts from which are used as a narrative device in Heavenly Creatures, makes the case all the more sinister.
asserted
case → outline → Creatures
Of their victim, we know remarkably little.
asserted
we → know → little
Honorah Parker was born and raised in Moseley, Birmingham.
asserted
Parker → bear → Moseley
When she was four, her father was admitted to an asylum and died there less than two months later.
asserted
father → admit → asylum
At 18, she emigrated to New Zealand, where she fell in love with Herbert Rieper, a married man who left his wife for her.
asserted
who → emigrate → her
They went on to spend more than 20 years together and have four children.
asserted
They → go → children
The truth about their relationship came to light only after the murder, which is why Pauline – who had been brought up as a Rieper – was tried as ‘Parker’, a surname that she never knew she had.
asserted
she → come → that
Pauline was a loner at school and the arrival of Juliet, a privileged English girl who had relocated to Christchurch after her father Henry Hulme was appointed Rector of Canterbury University College, transformed her world.
asserted
father → relocate → world
Both had suffered from childhood illnesses.
asserted
Both → suffer → illnesses
Pauline had chronic leg issues after an early bout of osteomyelitis, a painful inflammation of the bone, while Juliet had almost died of pneumonia and had spent long periods of her youth away from her parents in warmer climes.
asserted
Juliet → have → climes
These two new friends were excused from school sports and spent their time bonding over their shared experiences of poor health, as well as their enthusiasm for books and art.
asserted
friends → excuse → books
Their mutual obsession soon intensified.
asserted
obsession → intensify → ?
It wasn’t simply that Pauline and Juliet admired each other.
asserted
Pauline → admire → other
They became convinced that they were rare geniuses who were universally misunderstood.
asserted
who → become → ?
They spent as much time as possible in each other’s company, with Pauline often staying overnight in Juliet’s bed at Ilam Homestead, the mansion provided for the Hulme family by the university.
asserted
Pauline → spend → university
Unsurprisingly, the nature of the girls’ relationship was hotly debated at their trial.
asserted
nature → debate → trial
Several doctors called as witnesses regarded it as homosexual, and the Press seized upon the idea of a lesbian infatuation, although Perry (Juliet) always denied that she and Pauline had been lovers.
asserted
she → call → infatuation
…and 60 more, not listed.
The Aporia
