# Parker and Hulme · The Cult Dossier · The Atlas · The Congregation of Tomorrow

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The Cult Dossier · No. 173 · Shared Psychosis / Mandated Killing
Parker and Hulme
The Christchurch murder; Heavenly Creatures
1954 · Christchurch, New Zealand
XVII. SHARED PSYCHOSIS AND THE MANDATE TO KILL
None, though the girls constructed an elaborate private mythology with its own afterlife.
### Who led it
### What it worshipped and taught
### Who was in it
### How it ended, or where it stands
### The dead
### Of note
### Its timeline
- 1952–54 The two girls form an intensely close friendship and build a shared fantasy world, documented in detail in Parker's diaries — WHICH BECAME THE PRINCIPAL EVIDENCE AGAINST THEM, since Parker had written down the plan.
- 1954 Hulme's family arrange to leave New Zealand. The girls face permanent separation.
- 22 JUNE 1954 IN VICTORIA PARK, CHRISTCHURCH, THEY KILL HONORAH RIEPER WITH HALF A BRICK IN A STOCKING. They then reported that she had fallen.
- AUGUST 1954 THE DEFENCE ARGUES INSANITY ON THE BASIS OF FOLIE À DEUX. DR REGINALD MEDLICOTT, who examined both girls and read the diaries, testified that they had paranoia of an exalted type in a setting of folie à deux.
- 28 AUGUST 1954 AFTER TWO HOURS AND A QUARTER, THE JURY REJECTS THE INSANITY DEFENCE AND CONVICTS BOTH. MR JUSTICE ADAMS passes sentence. Too young to be hanged, they are detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.
- 1959 Both are released after about five years, SEPARATELY, under new identities. IT IS WIDELY REPORTED THAT THEY WERE FORBIDDEN EVER TO CONTACT EACH OTHER; SAM BARNETT, THEN SECRETARY FOR JUSTICE, TOLD JOURNALISTS THERE WAS NO SUCH CONDITION. As far as the record shows, they never met again.
- 1994 Peter Jackson's film HEAVENLY CREATURES prompts journalists to identify Juliet Hulme as the successful crime novelist ANNE PERRY. She acknowledges it publicly and continues to write.
- 1997 The New Zealand journalist CHRIS COOKE locates Pauline Parker in the village of Hoo, Kent, living as HILARY NATHAN and running a riding school. She denies ever having had another name.
- 10 APRIL 2023 ANNE PERRY DIES in Los Angeles, aged 84, having published dozens of novels.
### Its people
### Pauline Parker
Hilary Nathan
Convicted with Juliet Hulme of the Christchurch murder · born 26 May 1938 · active 1954–1959
Before the law. Convicted of murder 28 August 1954; detained about five years; released 1959. Never reoffended.
Where things stand. LIVING, PRIVATELY, AND THIS FILE DELIBERATELY DOES NOT SAY WHERE. Her current locality is published elsewhere and is not printed here. She was convicted as a child, served her sentence, has lived under another name for more than sixty years, has never sought attention and has never reoffended. THE FILE RECORDS THE TRIAL, NOT THE ADDRESS. Compare L284 (Ray Buckey), where the same principle applies to a man who was acquitted.
- 1938 Born in Christchurch.
- 1952–54 The friendship, the shared imaginative world and the diaries.
- 22 JUNE 1954 The killing of Honorah Rieper.
- 28 AUGUST 1954 CONVICTED. The jury rejects the folie à deux insanity defence. Too young to hang, she is detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.
- 1959 Released after about five years, SEPARATELY from Hulme — reportedly on condition that the two never contact one another again, though the Secretary for Justice said no such condition existed.
- late 1959 Given a new identity as HILARY NATHAN.
- 1990s Living in England and running a children's riding school when journalists locate her.
- 1994 onward Refuses all media contact and has never spoken publicly about the case.
Checked 2026-09-06 · living: health details are kept at home
### Juliet Hulme
Anne Perry
Convicted with Pauline Parker; later a crime novelist · 28 October 1938 – 10 April 2023 · active 1954–2023
Before the law. Convicted of murder 28 August 1954; detained about five years; released 1959. Never reoffended.
Where things stand. Deceased. THE TWO WOMEN TOGETHER ARE THE STRONGEST EVIDENCE IN THIS ERA FOR SEPARATION AS TREATMENT, AND IT IS EVIDENCE ALMOST NOBODY EVER GETS. Two people were removed from each other at 15 and 16, never, as far as is known, in contact again, and followed for nearly seventy years. NEITHER EVER COMMITTED ANOTHER OFFENCE. One wrote crime fiction for four decades. Whatever existed between them in 1954 did not survive being taken apart, which is exactly what entry 171 predicts and essentially never gets to demonstrate over a lifetime.
- 1938 Born in England; the family later moves to New Zealand.
- 22 JUNE 1954 Takes part in the killing of Honorah Rieper.
- 28 AUGUST 1954 Convicted; detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.
- 1959 Released separately from Parker, on the condition of no further contact. As far as the record shows, THEY NEVER SPOKE AGAIN.
- 1979 Publishes her first novel as ANNE PERRY.
- 1994 HEAVENLY CREATURES is released; journalists identify her. She confirms it publicly.
- 1994–2023 Continues to publish, and speaks about the case in interviews on her own terms.
- 10 APRIL 2023 DIES IN LOS ANGELES, aged 84.
Checked 2026-09-06
### Reginald Medlicott
Reginald Warren Medlicott
New Zealand psychiatrist; diagnosed folie à deux for the defence · 1913 – 9 September 1986 · active 1954–1955
Before the law. None. He was an expert witness, not a party.
Where things stand. Deceased. HIS POSITION IS THE ONE THE WHOLE ERA KEEPS RUNNING TOGETHER AND SHOULD NOT. Medlicott may well have been describing something real. The jury's verdict was NOT that the girls' relationship was ordinary; it was that they knew what they were doing when they did it. THOSE TWO POSITIONS ARE COMPATIBLE. Whether a diagnosis is correct and whether it should excuse are separate questions, and this file's whole era XVII turns on keeping them apart. Compare 175, where nobody disputed the diagnosis at all and the defendant was convicted anyway.
- 1913 Born in Waimate, New Zealand.
- AUGUST 1954 Testifies for the defence at the Parker-Hulme trial.
- 28 AUGUST 1954 His diagnosis is rejected by the jury.
- 1955 Publishes his clinical account of the case.
- 9 SEPTEMBER 1986 Dies at New Plymouth.
Checked 2026-09-06
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