The movie ‘child’s play, was brought to the attention of the media in the UK back in the early nineties because of two cases both happened in the Northwest of England which is a particularly poor region of England. One being the kidnapping and murder of two-year-old James Bulger who was snatched by two ten-year-old boys from a butcher’s shop in a mall in Bootle, Merseyside just on the edge of Liverpool. The boys had been known to enjoy the movie and some of the elements of the crime were thought to have lose parallels with the movie. The case that I am going to tell you about today can be compared only to cases like the Sylvia Likens torture murder or that of Junko Futura horrific and incomprehensible to the average person.
CANDLE IN THE WIND
Suzanne Jane capper was born in Manchester, England in 1976 to her mother Elizabeth Dunbar Suzanne’s biological father was not in her life but when Suzanne was in her early teens her mother married John Capper. It seems] John took on Suzanne and her siblings. In 1990 Elizabeth and John separated and Suzanne spent time in the care of the local authority. It had then decided her, and her older sister Michelle would live in Moston Manchester with her stepfather John. Suzanne was described as “high-spirited, well-mannered girl” she was polite, was seeking acceptance love, and belonging. Unfortunately, this would be her downfall. Her life so erratic Suzanne must have felt abandoned and unloved from what I have found in my research John Capper tried his best, but Suzanne was already damaged by her unstable life. Around this time Suzanne started skipping school her attendance at Moston Brook high school was said to be “erratic” Suzanne started going to parties, using drugs, and doing all the things a teenager does when acting out. Suzanne was effectively trying to be part of the crowd, belong, fit in.
Bring in the clowns .
Suzanne started to spend time with a woman named Jean Powell 26, Jean used to babysit Suzanne when she was around 10 years old, but it was allegedly a chance meeting with jeans younger brother Clifford in the park the brought Suzanne back in contact with Jean Powell when Suzanne was 16.
Jean had spilt with her husband Glynn Powell 29, but he was still a frequent visitor to Jeans home at 97 Langworthy road, Moston. Jean’s home was like a drug den with many unsavoury character’s visiting and drug deals and various other alleged criminal activities taking place Jean had three children, but this was hardly the safe and nurturing environment that you would wish for any child to exist in.
Bernadette McNeilly moved in a three doors down from Jean at number 91 the two became fast friends and within no time Bernadette moved in with Jean at number 91. The two women started sleeping together on a bed in the dining room. Jean already had three children and Bernadette had three of her own, so the upstairs was filled with children. Bernadette was 24 but she had a 16 year old boyfriend named Anthony Dudson Jean had a boyfriend named Jeffrey leigh 27. Jeans younger brother Clifford Pook also Known as Hayes also spent plenty of time around Jeans house. The house was essentially a party house where it seemed anything goes. Suzanne started spending more and more time at jeans house the women would treat Suzanne at first like a slave Suzanne was an easily led girl and took the women’s abuse in good grace. Jean got Suzanne a job at the at the CIS building in town as a cleaner and took Suzanne completely out of school. Suzanne tolerated being bullied at 97 Langworthy Rd by anyone and everyone. Michelle Capper Suzanne capper briefly lived with Jean herself but moved out because she didn’t like the people Jean had started to associate with particularly Bernadette McNeilly.
Lamb to the slaughter
A few weeks before the murder sometime in November 1992 Suzanne turned up on the doorstep of her mother Elizabeth’s House Suzanne had a black eye and begged her mother to let her spend the night. Elizabeth turned her daughter away telling Suzanne that her new boyfriend wouldn’t like her staying over. Sad and defeated Suzanne went back to Jeans house. The decision to turn Suzanne away that day would prove to be one Elizabeth lived to regret.
Paul Barlow Suzanne’s sisters fiancé at the time said “Suzanne turned up on her doorstep with a huge black eye and said she wanted to get away from the trouble she had been having. Yet despite her appearance her own mother turned her away. I believe that had she done something to help Suzanne, things might be very different today. As a parent myself I would find what Suzanne’s mother did very hard to live with.”
Meanwhile the gang was plotting against Suzanne. For a start Bernadette claimed that it must have been Suzanne her stole her pink duffle coat that had seemingly disappeared from the house. This coat cost £50 which would have made it likely a designer brand in 1992. With the kind of people that frequented the property anyone of them could have taken it and probably sold it for drugs. The other reason is Jean, Bernadette Glynn and Anthony caught public lice or crab lice as they are also. It was Anthony Dudson who contacted them first and had to shave the hair on his body he said he had caught them from Suzanne had he had slept in the bed upstairs that Suzanne sometimes slept in. It isn’t clear if she had also had sex with Dudson or not. It was also said that Suzanne had suggested Jean sleep with an Arab man for money and this was insulting to Jean. In the drug Addled minds of the group the only solution that made sense was Suzanne needed to be punished.
On the 7th of December 1992 Suzanne was at her stepfather John’s home when Jean and Bernadette lured Suzanne to 97 Langworthy Rd. Suzanne was told some boy she fancied was there and wanted to talk to her, so Suzanne went eagerly like a lamb to the slaughter
Chucky comes to play
As soon as Suzanne got to Jeans house she was grabbed by Glynn Powell and Anthony Dudson. She was held down and her head and eyebrows were shaven Suzanne was then made to clean up her hair and afterwards he threw a bag around her head and circled around her hitting her. She was then set upon by Jean and Bernadette the women kicked Suzanne as she lay curled up on the floor crying and trying to protect herself from the viciousness of the women who then took 3 ft decorative wooden spoon and fork the type you display on dining room walls and beat Suzanne with them, also a belt was used. At this point her arm was damaged and then just hang useless from her side never again to heal.
Suzanne was forced to go to the bathroom and shave her pubic hair this was vengeance for the fact Dudson and McNeilly had to shave themselves.
Jean then took Suzanne to a cupboard and that’s where Suzanne spent a no doubt terrifying night probably wondering what she had done to deserve such abuse from the adults she looked up to and did so much to please. Suzanne spent that night sobbing very loudly which was according to the women waking up the children in the house through the night
So, the next day Suzanne was transferred to number 91 Langworthy Rd Bernadette’s now empty house.
Suzanne was then tied to an upturned box spring bed base with electrical flex wires spreadeagled in a downstairs backroom.
The gang then started to torture Suzanne her beatings were severe and frequent they then started to inject her with methamphetamine, so that way she would stay awake and suffer her torture. Cigarettes were put out on her skin
Jean then took Suzanne to a cupboard and that’s where Suzanne spent a no doubt terrifying night probably wondering what she had done to deserve such abuse from the adults she looked up to and did so much to please. Suzanne spent that night sobbing very loudly which was according to the women waking up the children in the house through the night So, the next day Suzanne was transferred to number 91 Langworthy Rd Bernadette’s now empty house.
Suzanne was then tied to an upturned box spring bed base with electrical flex wires spreadeagled in a downstairs backroom.
The gang then started to torture Suzanne her beatings were severe and frequent they then started to inject her with methamphetamine, so that way she would stay awake and suffer her torture. Cigarettes were put out on her skin
At this time there was a house track that had been released by 150 volts
Called ‘hi I’m chucky, (wanna play?) The song had samples of chucky voice from the movie child’s play This was played to Suzanne on repeat through headphones at maximum volume. Jean began each torture session by telling Suzanne ‘Chuckies coming to play. Pook and Leigh also called at the house that week and saw Suzanne blind folded and gagged and lay in her own mess ad the gang hadn’t been letting her go to the bathroom. They then decided to give her a concentrated disinfectant bath her skin was scrubbed so hard with a bath brush her skin started to peel off
Clifford Pook then took a pair of pliers and pulled out two of Suzanne’s teeth he tried to remove a third but it snapped and left her nerve exposed causing further pain he was laughing and smacking her in the mouth with pliers shattering some of her teeth. Other people came around the house that week including David Hill 18 who got left house sitting was shown Suzanne by Dudson he could clearly see Suzanne had signs of torture and was tied up but when Suzanne begged him to Free her, he refused because he was afraid of what the gang would do to him if he set her free. Her time in captivity was brutal and unimaginable. She was also sexually assaulted by the men in the house. By the end of the week she had two broken arms missing teeth her skin was red and scabby she had bruises no hair her only crime was falling in with the wrong crowd. Things were about to take a turn for the worst.
The murder
On the 14th of December the gang decided it was time to get rid of Suzanne once and for all. They had heard Suzanne’s stepfather was concerned Suzanne often stayed out for days but this was longer than usual they knew things had gone too far and they were going to be in big trouble had they just let her go. So that night Suzanne was put into the trunk of a fiat panda and driven 15 miles to a small country lane at Werneth Low just outside Stockport.
The gang pushed Suzanne down an embankment and she rolled into some brambles Bernadette then pour petrol on Suzanne the gang at first made several attempts at lighting Suzanne on fire but eventually they managed to set her alight.
They then walked away laughing and singing the Trammps song ‘Burn baby burn!’ Amazing though sure will Suzanne bravely managed to crawl her way out to the road side she got as far as a quarter of a mile when at 6.10 in the morning she was found by a Mr Barry Sutcliffe he was on his way to work with two of his colleagues. He took Suzanne to a nearby house and knocked up the residents a married couple Michael and Margaret Coop, and asked them to call 999. Michael Coop said “Both her hands appeared like ash. Her legs were just like raw meat and her feet appeared to be badly charred. I was struck by how polite the victim was. She was constantly thanking my wife for her assistance.” Margaret Coop said of Suzanne “I instinctively went to put my arms around her but she pulled away because she could not bear to be touched. Her head was shaved and there were recent, not new, cuts to her head. Her face was almost featureless. Her hands were red raw and black at the fingertips. Her legs were red from top to bottom. She couldn’t bear anything near her legs.” Suzanne was rushed to Withington hospital, Manchester. She managed to tell detectives from greater Manchester police everything that happened to her and gave names and addresses. Then slipped in to a coma and past away on the 18th of December.
When some of the police officers and detectives at the police station found out the extent of her injuries some wept they all pooled money together and sent flowers to the hospital. At 7.10 that evening the police attended 97 Langworthy Rd and arrested everyone they found in that house. Initially all 6 denied any involvement Dudson was urged to tell the truth by his father, so he started to talk, and the game was up.
Detective Inspector, Wall said of what Dudson told him “As the story began to unfold, we just couldn’t believe it. I kept asking myself how one human being could do this to another.”
On the 17th of December 1993 Jean Powell 26, Bernadette McNeilly 24, Glynn Powell 29, Jeffrey Leigh 27, Clifford Pook (Hayes)18 and Anthony Dudson 16. Appeared before Manchester Crown Court
Jean Powell was found guilty of murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, false imprisonment and was sentenced to Life imprisonment (minimum tariff 25 years).
Glynn Powell was found guilty of murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, false imprisonment and was sentenced to Life imprisonment (minimum tariff 25 years).
Jeffrey Leigh was found guilty of murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, false imprisonment and was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.
Bernadette McNeilly was found guilty of murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, false imprisonment and sentenced to Life imprisonment (minimum tariff 25 years).
Anthony Michael Dudson was found guilty of murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, false imprisonment and was sentenced to detained indefinitely (minimum tariff 18 years).
Clifford Pook was found guilty of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, false imprisonment and was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment.
Summary
This case is a sad one and the most outrageous thing about it is Bernadette McNeilly, Clifford Pook and Jeffrey Leigh are all now realised from prison and Bernadette shares a house with the notorious Karen Matthews who kidnapped her own daughter and hid her so she could collect money from concerned strangers. Also she allegedly had an affair in prison with the moors murder Myra Hindley. Suzanne was just a girl who was lost and wanted to belong she felt deserted by her mother and never knew who her father was Manchester society was full of those kind of people at that time who felt the world owed them a favour and didn’t want to work and would rather drink and do drugs than looking after the children in their charge. The movie child’s play was heavily criticised and blamed because of its connection to a couple of crimes in that era but horror movies only exist as a reflection of evil that already exists its easy to blame music, movies or video games for the much larger problems in society like drugs alcohol, poverty or bad parenting. Its a problem world over with the modern age the Internet provides people the chance to view real violence which is much worse an influence than any fictional gore could possibly have on society at large and also, we have ten year olds watching Pornhub and seeing women being treated disrespectfully and even stimulated rape and worst things like that pose a greater risk going forward. It’s been difficult researching this case Suzanne lived locally and I knew her stepfather and a friend of mine was related to Jean Powell and Clifford Pook. There was a remembrance plaque in the garden at the school I would often see John capper solemnly staring at it at lunchtime John capper worked at Moston Brook high school the same school Suzanne attended. So I felt I needed to tell her story because its one that’s stuck with me since I was a kid. If Suzanne was alive today, she would be 46 years old probably had children and maybe even grandchildren.
Red House of Hell 