10 True Crime Stories That NEED A Netflix Documentary

There are few tropes in horror more well worn than that of the creepy child. Kiddies are supposed to be the embodiment of innocence, so when a youngster is imbued with the spirit of evil, it can make for chilling fiction. In reality, though, it’s far more shocking than any writer could ever concoct.

Mary Bell was a young girl from a troubled and disrupted background in the north east of England who, by the time she was 11 years old, had strangled and killed two small boys. Bell was known to have a violent temperament, but was entirely neglected by her mother, and in due course the aggressive outbursts escalated to the murder of two three year old boys.

Bell was quickly apprehended, and while diminished responsibility played a part in her sentencing, she still wound up with 12 years’ imprisonment. She actually managed to escape from prison some way into her sentence, but was eventually released in 1980.

Since then Bell has attempted, and seemingly succeeded, to lead a normal life. She has been granted a new identity, and while she collaborated on a memoir of sorts, she unsurprisingly shuns the spotlight. That’s all to say she’d be unlikely to contribute to a doc, but the story’s an incredible one.