Anne Perry: Murderer turned crime writer dies aged 84

Anne Perry, a crime author, who was convicted for helping to murder her friend’s mother when she was 15, has passed away at the age of 84. Perry served five years in prison for bludgeoning Honorah Mary Parker to death in 1954 in Christchurch, New Zealand.

She was known as Juliet Hulme at the time and later adopted the name Anne Perry as her pen name for her writing career. Perry’s declining health had been ongoing for several months after suffering a heart attack in December.

Her agent confirmed her death, which was the inspiration for Peter Jackson’s 1994 film, Heavenly Creatures, featuring Kate Winslet. The murder plot was discovered through journals found by the police.

Honorah Mary Parker was bludgeoned to death with a brick about 20 times, and during the trial, it was revealed that the two teenage girls had planned the murder to avoid separation when Perry’s parents were sending her abroad.

Perry, who was 16 at the time, was supposed to go to South Africa to live with relatives, and the girls believed that Parker’s mother would interfere with their plan. As both girls were under 18 years old at the time of the murder, they were not eligible for the death penalty and were sentenced to prison instead.

Anne Perry was born in Blackheath, London, in October 1938, and after moving to the Bahamas at eight years old, she settled in New Zealand. She had a difficult childhood due to illness, and as a result, she missed a lot of school and was fostered. After her release from prison for her involvement in the murder, Perry returned to the UK and briefly worked as a flight attendant.

She later converted to Mormonism and lived in a small Scottish village called Portmahomack. Perry’s writing career started with the publication of her first novel, The Cater Street Hangman, in 1979. She authored numerous novels that were part of different series and sold 25 million copies worldwide.

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