Due to the nature of this case, listener discretion is advised.

This episode includes discussions of drug abuse, sexual abuse of minors, harm against minors,

mutilation, attempted suicide, and killing.

Consider this when deciding how and when you'll listen.

To get help on mental health and suicide,

visit Spotify. dot com slash resources.

In December 1968,

Dr David Westbury sat in his office and picked up the phone.

The forensic psychiatrist had spent hours and hours calling up every mental health hospital

in England. He was running out of options and time.

One by one he crossed them off the list. No hospital wanted to admit his patient. She was currently on trial and if she became

a convicted killer she had to be sent somewhere he just hoped it was someplace

that could actually provide the care she needed,

because his patient, Mary Bell,

was an 11-year-old girl.

I'm Vanessa Richardson, this is Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. You can find us here every Monday.

Be sure to check us out on Instagram at Serial Killers Podcast and'd love to hear from you so if you're

listening on the Spotify app swipe up and give us your thoughts. The story you're

about to hear is as heart-wrenching as it is horrifying. It involves children hurting other

children. When events like this occur, it captivates our attention because it just feels so

unusual, but it does happen this is the case of Mary Bell

It feels like we're all being told to go on this diet, take that supplement.

...