38 - Tortured Teens: The horrific murders of Suzanne Capper & Sylvia Likens

Mens Rea: A true crime podcast

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True Crime, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2019

⏱️ 69 minutes

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Summary

Early on a December morning, in 1992, Suzanne Capper (16) was found wandering on a quiet laneway south of Manchester. She was half naked, and her body had been burned badly. She was brought to hospital, but died 4 days later of her injuries. It quickly emerged that she had been held in a house, tied up and tortured for nearly a week before her death. These horrific acts were committed by people she had considered friends. She was able to name them before she died, and they were held responsible for their crimes. But Suzanne is far from the only young girl who has suffered torture at the hands of a group of people that she knew. Find us on Facebook or Twitter! With thanks to our supporters on Patreon! If you would like to support the podcast, head on over to Patreon.com Theme Music: Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Suzanne_Capper#Murder "Murder Acquittal” from The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/murder-acquittal-1506480.html (25 November 1993) “Horror Fiction became reality” in The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/horror-fiction-became-reality-1468190.html (18 December 1993) “Woman 'sat numb as girl burned': Court told of teenagers screams” from The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/woman-sat-numb-as-girl-burned-court-told-of-teenagers-screams-1464583.html (1 December 1993) “Torture girl's pleas for help rejected” from The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/torture-girls-plea-for-help-rejected-1505019.html (18 November 1993) Malcolm Pithers, “ Teenage girl 'subjected to brutal regime of torture': Court told how 16 year old burnt to death” from The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/torture-girls-plea-for-help-rejected-1505019.html ( 17 November 1993) Simon Midgely, “ Four guilty of torture killing” in The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/four-guilty-of-torture-killing-simon-midgley-1468211.html (18 December 1993) Emily Thompson, “One week of Sadism – The murder of Suzanne Capper” from Morbidology.com https://morbidology.com/one-week-of-sadism-the-murder-of-suzanne-capper/ (1 March 2019) “Four Convicted in Torture, Burning Death of Teen-Ager” from Apnews.com https://www.apnews.com/6edb4a3c375e3bbe1430aa022c501009 (18 December 1993) Jonathan Foster and David Connett, “Petty Grudges settled by torture spree then murder: Suzanne Capper's short like ended in horror at the hands of 'friends' who lived equally bleak existence” in The Independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/petty-grudges-settled-by-torture-spree-then-murder-suzanne-cappers-short-life-ended-in-horror-at-the-1468189.html (18 December 1993) Scott Hesketh, “Twisted Chucky Killer is back on the streets with secret new identity” in The Daily Star https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/418304/CHUCKY-killer-is-back-on-the-streets-with-secret-new-identity (4 January 2015) “Exclusive: 20 years on, the Suzanne Capper Case” in Confidentials.com https://confidentials.com/manchester/exclusive-20-years-on-the-suzanne-capper-case (21 January 2013) “Woman who tortured Suzanne Capper has sentence cut after court hears she is 'model prisoner'” in The Manchester Evening News https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/woman-who-tortured-suzanne-capper-691651 (24 July 2012) Sylvia Likens Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Sylvia_Likens Mark Oliver, “Sylvia Likens: The Story of a 16 year old tortured and murdered by a neighbourhood” from Allthatsinteresting.com https://allthatsinteresting.com/sylvia-likens-gertrude-baniszewski (22 January 2019)

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the mens rea podcast and this is the story of
0:05.8	Suzanne Kapper and of Sylvia Likens. The Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,
0:27.0	oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, On the morning of the 14th of December, 1992, at about 10 past 6 in the morning,
0:49.0	Barry Sutcliffe and two colleagues were on their way to work. They were driving in the outskirts of Romilly, east of Stockport and just south of the Greater Manchester Area. They were traveling up the Comstill Road in Romilly when they came
1:06.0	across a figure staggering along the lane. The figure was a young girl, Suzanne Kapper. She was in a bad way. She had burns all over her and was
1:18.9	in obvious need of immediate help. Barry ran to the nearest house on the road, that of Michael and Margaret Coop, and knocked on the door until someone answered.
1:31.0	Then they brought Suzanne inside and rang for an ambulance.
1:36.0	Inside out of the dim light of the laneway the extent of Suzanne's injuries shocked to those who were now trying to help. She was very badly burnt,
1:47.0	all over her body. Her head had been shaved and she had gashes on her scalp.
1:52.0	The coops attempted to tend to her while they waited for the emergency services.
1:58.6	Suzanne was parched and drank six glasses of water, but wasn't able to hold the glass herself as her
2:06.2	hands were so badly damaged. Mr. Coop said quote, both her hands appeared like ash her legs were just like raw meat and her
2:17.3	feet appeared to be badly charred I was
2:24.1	constantly thanking my wife for her assistance.
2:27.8	End quote.
2:29.3	His wife went on to say, quote, I instinctively went to put my arms around her, but she pulled away,
2:36.5	because she could not bear to be touched. 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."
2:49.0	End quote.
2:51.0	Suzanne told her rescuers that she had been left to die in a nearby field.
2:56.6	She said, quote, they burned me, they put petrol on me, end quote.
3:02.0	Whoever had brought her to this place had thrown her down an
3:04.6	embankment before drenching her with flammable liquid and putting a lighter
	...

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