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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

PAULINE PARKER, aged 16, and JULIET HULME, aged 15. Which of them was the primary has never been agreed.

What it worshipped and taught

An intense, exclusive friendship and a shared imaginative world — an invented kingdom with its own saints, royalty and rules, recorded in Parker's diaries. WHEN THE GIRLS WERE TO BE SEPARATED BY HULME'S FAMILY LEAVING NEW ZEALAND, THEY KILLED PARKER'S MOTHER, whom they identified as the obstacle.

Who was in it

Pauline Parker; Juliet Hulme; HONORAH RIEPER, Parker's mother and the victim, named in the charge and the 1954 press as HONORA MARY PARKER, aged 45; DR REGINALD MEDLICOTT, the psychiatrist who diagnosed folie à deux for the defence; the jury that rejected it.

How it ended, or where it stands

BOTH SERVED FIVE YEARS AND WERE RELEASED AS ADULTS UNDER NEW NAMES. One became a well-known novelist; the other lived in deliberate obscurity. Neither reoffended.

The dead

One: Honorah Rieper, charged in 1954 under the name Honora Mary Parker.

Of note

THIS IS THE CASE WHERE FOLIE À DEUX WAS PUT TO A JURY AS A DEFENCE AND LOST, AND THAT PUTS IT IN A PATTERN THAT RUNS THROUGH THIS WHOLE DOSSIER.

Coercive persuasion was argued for PATTY HEARST in 1976 and lost (058). Brainwashing was excluded from American courts after FISHMAN in 1990 (150). Folie à deux was argued here in 1954 and lost. HERBERT MULLIN'S GENUINE SCHIZOPHRENIA WAS ARGUED IN 1973 AND LOST (175). JURIES CONSISTENTLY DECLINE TO ACCEPT THAT A SHARED OR INDUCED MENTAL STATE REMOVES RESPONSIBILITY, whatever the psychiatric evidence, and they have been doing it for seventy years.

WHETHER THE DIAGNOSIS WAS RIGHT IS A SEPARATE QUESTION FROM WHETHER IT SHOULD HAVE EXCUSED THEM, and the two get run together constantly. 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 POSITIONS ARE COMPATIBLE.

THE OUTCOME IS ALSO THE STRONGEST EVIDENCE IN THIS ERA FOR SEPARATION AS TREATMENT. Two people were removed from each other at 15 and 16 and, as far as anyone knows, never met again. NEITHER EVER COMMITTED ANOTHER OFFENCE. One of them wrote crime fiction for forty years. Whatever existed between them in 1954 did not survive being taken apart, WHICH IS PRECISELY WHAT ENTRY 171 PREDICTS AND ALMOST NEVER GETS TO DEMONSTRATE OVER SIXTY YEARS.

Its timeline

  1. 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.
  2. 1954 Hulme's family arrange to leave New Zealand. The girls face permanent separation.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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

Aged 16 at the time of the killing. With JULIET HULME she built an elaborate private world with its own royalty and afterlife, recorded in diaries that BECAME THE PRINCIPAL EVIDENCE AGAINST HER because she had written down the plan. When Hulme's family arranged to leave New Zealand and the two faced permanent separation, they killed Parker's mother HONORAH RIEPER in Victoria Park on 22 JUNE 1954, and then reported that she had fallen.

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.

  1. 1938 Born in Christchurch.
  2. 1952–54 The friendship, the shared imaginative world and the diaries.
  3. 22 JUNE 1954 The killing of Honorah Rieper.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. late 1959 Given a new identity as HILARY NATHAN.
  7. 1990s Living in England and running a children's riding school when journalists locate her.
  8. 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

Aged 15 at the time of the killing, and the other half of the pair. After release she left New Zealand, took the name ANNE PERRY, and became one of the most widely read historical crime novelists in English, publishing dozens of books over forty years. HER IDENTITY WAS PUBLIC FROM 1994, when Peter Jackson's HEAVENLY CREATURES prompted journalists to trace her, and she acknowledged it and kept writing.

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.

  1. 1938 Born in England; the family later moves to New Zealand.
  2. 22 JUNE 1954 Takes part in the killing of Honorah Rieper.
  3. 28 AUGUST 1954 Convicted; detained at Her Majesty's pleasure.
  4. 1959 Released separately from Parker, on the condition of no further contact. As far as the record shows, THEY NEVER SPOKE AGAIN.
  5. 1979 Publishes her first novel as ANNE PERRY.
  6. 1994 HEAVENLY CREATURES is released; journalists identify her. She confirms it publicly.
  7. 1994–2023 Continues to publish, and speaks about the case in interviews on her own terms.
  8. 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

Born in Waimate and later a leading figure in New Zealand psychiatry. He examined both girls, read Parker's diaries, and testified for the defence that they had, in his words, paranoia of an exalted type in a setting of folie à deux. THE JURY REJECTED IT AND CONVICTED BOTH. He published his account in 1955, and it remains one of the fullest first-hand psychiatric records of a folie à deux case anywhere in the literature.

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.

  1. 1913 Born in Waimate, New Zealand.
  2. AUGUST 1954 Testifies for the defence at the Parker-Hulme trial.
  3. 28 AUGUST 1954 His diagnosis is rejected by the jury.
  4. 1955 Publishes his clinical account of the case.
  5. 9 SEPTEMBER 1986 Dies at New Plymouth.

Checked 2026-09-06

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