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IN THIS true crime special, we look at the children convicted of murder - and what drives them to kill
CHILD KILLER: Daniel Bartlam killed his own mother in a shocking crime for one so young
THE figures are shocking: nearly 400 children have been convicted of murder in the UK in the last two decades.
And the youngest was just 11 years old.
Between 2008 and 2011, 81 children were convicted of the crime in England and Wales.
The children behind these gruesome deaths are often as clever and calculating as adult murderers.
Next week, a fascinating new Channel 5 documentary, Kids Who Kill, examines some of the most shocking cases.
Top criminologist Professor David Wilson, who appears in the programme, says: “Some cases are truly chilling. There are different types of child killer but some clearly show psychopathic tendencies.”
Mary Bell became infamous for the manslaughter of Martin Brown and Brian Howe in 1968 when she was aged just 10.
And the murder of two-year-old James Bulger in 1993 horrified the nation.
Here, in a true crime special, we take a look at some of Britain’s worst recent cases and talk to Professor Wilson about what turns a seemingly innocent child into a killer.
VICTIM: Daniel killed his mother Jacqui while his mother's former partner Simon Matters knew something was wrong
HAMMER HORROR: 14-YEAR-OLD WHO COPIED CORRIE KILLER
Who: Daniel Bartlam
Age: 14
The crime: Daniel’s mum Jacqui split from his father when he was nine. But it was only after 2009 when the behaviour of the youngster, then 12, began to become worrying.
Jacqui had moved the family to a smaller house in Redhill, Nottingham. Daniel was also taken out of his private school and transferred to a state school.
He became reclusive, posting violent clips from his favourite soaps online, watching horror films and penning grisly stories.
Simon Matters, Jacqui’s ex-partner, says: “He would come down and show me a story, quite gory, about a kid who had killed another kid. He liked to shock people with things he did and said.
“He had many expensive figurines of Star Wars and Doctor Who characters and they would just all be ruined. He’d have plastic boxes full of figurines but he’d urinated in the boxes.
“He’d also defecated all over the bedroom in boxes. One of the things that disturbed me, but Jacqui laughed about it, I found he had a bag of her underwear. It was brushed over at the time, but later it appeared more sinister.”
On Easter Sunday, 2011, he decided to commit the perfect murder by killing his own mother.
That night, after calmly mowing the lawn and eating some Easter eggs, he sneaked into his mother’s bedroom and hit her on the head seven times with a claw hammer.
Daniel then covered her bloodied body with paper, doused it in petrol and set fire to it, hoping to destroy the evidence.
How he was caught: Daniel fled the blazing house, saving his younger brother and dog and then told police an intruder had attacked his mum.
But police found the murder weapon in Daniel’s bedroom.
They also found he had been watching video footage from ITV soap Coronation Street in which killer John Stape commits a similar crime.
Simon adds: “I still can’t believe that someone could go to those lengths at that age to do something like that, not to anybody, but his own mum.”
The outcome: In April 2012, he was jailed for life in Nottingham.
Professor Wilson’s verdict: “This is a young man who is cunning, he is cool. It’s a cluster of behaviours that would lead me to want to label him a psychopath.”
CHILD KILLER: Daniel Bartlam killed his own mother in a shocking crime for one so youngAnd the youngest was just 11 years old.
Between 2008 and 2011, 81 children were convicted of the crime in England and Wales.
The children behind these gruesome deaths are often as clever and calculating as adult murderers.
Next week, a fascinating new Channel 5 documentary, Kids Who Kill, examines some of the most shocking cases.
Top criminologist Professor David Wilson, who appears in the programme, says: “Some cases are truly chilling. There are different types of child killer but some clearly show psychopathic tendencies.”
Mary Bell became infamous for the manslaughter of Martin Brown and Brian Howe in 1968 when she was aged just 10.
And the murder of two-year-old James Bulger in 1993 horrified the nation.
Here, in a true crime special, we take a look at some of Britain’s worst recent cases and talk to Professor Wilson about what turns a seemingly innocent child into a killer.
VICTIM: Daniel killed his mother Jacqui while his mother's former partner Simon Matters knew something was wrong Who: Daniel Bartlam
Age: 14
The crime: Daniel’s mum Jacqui split from his father when he was nine. But it was only after 2009 when the behaviour of the youngster, then 12, began to become worrying.
Jacqui had moved the family to a smaller house in Redhill, Nottingham. Daniel was also taken out of his private school and transferred to a state school.
He became reclusive, posting violent clips from his favourite soaps online, watching horror films and penning grisly stories.
Simon Matters, Jacqui’s ex-partner, says: “He would come down and show me a story, quite gory, about a kid who had killed another kid. He liked to shock people with things he did and said.
“He had many expensive figurines of Star Wars and Doctor Who characters and they would just all be ruined. He’d have plastic boxes full of figurines but he’d urinated in the boxes.
“He’d also defecated all over the bedroom in boxes. One of the things that disturbed me, but Jacqui laughed about it, I found he had a bag of her underwear. It was brushed over at the time, but later it appeared more sinister.”
On Easter Sunday, 2011, he decided to commit the perfect murder by killing his own mother.
That night, after calmly mowing the lawn and eating some Easter eggs, he sneaked into his mother’s bedroom and hit her on the head seven times with a claw hammer.
Daniel then covered her bloodied body with paper, doused it in petrol and set fire to it, hoping to destroy the evidence.
How he was caught: Daniel fled the blazing house, saving his younger brother and dog and then told police an intruder had attacked his mum.
But police found the murder weapon in Daniel’s bedroom.
They also found he had been watching video footage from ITV soap Coronation Street in which killer John Stape commits a similar crime.
Simon adds: “I still can’t believe that someone could go to those lengths at that age to do something like that, not to anybody, but his own mum.”
The outcome: In April 2012, he was jailed for life in Nottingham.
Professor Wilson’s verdict: “This is a young man who is cunning, he is cool. It’s a cluster of behaviours that would lead me to want to label him a psychopath.”
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