Editing Parker–Hulme murder case (section)

==Trial and conviction==
Prior to the trial, Parker had been known as Pauline Rieper. Her mother had been living with her father, Herbert Rieper, but the police investigations revealed that they were not, in fact, married. Thus, during the trial, both Honorah and Pauline were referred to with the surname "Parker".<ref>[http://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Heritage/Digitised/ParkerHulme/Page2.asp Parker–Hulme murder case]; ''Star-Sun'', 23 August 1954, p.1</ref>

The trial was a sensational affair, with speculation about the girls' possible [[lesbian]]ism and [[insanity]]. Parker and Hulme were convicted on 28 August 1954; and, as they were too young to be considered for the [[Capital punishment in New Zealand|death penalty]], each spent five years in prison. Hulme served her sentence at [[Mount Eden Prisons|Mount Eden prison]] in Auckland.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Carlson |first=Michael |date=2023-04-18 |title=Anne Perry obituary |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/18/anne-perry-obituary |access-date=2023-05-05 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Some sources say they were released on condition that they never contact each other again,<ref>{{cite news|title='Heavenly Creatures' found guilty of murder|url=http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/heavenly-creatures-pauline-parker-and-juliet-hulme-are-found-guilty-of-murder|work=New Zealand History Online|publisher=NZ Ministry for Culture & Heritage|access-date=29 July 2012|date=15 July 2011}}</ref> but [[Samuel Thompson Barnett|Sam Barnett]], then Secretary for Justice, told journalists there was no such condition.<ref>{{cite book|title=So Brilliantly Clever: Parker, Hulme & The Murder that Shocked the World|first=Peter|last=Graham|isbn=978-1-877551-12-3|year=2011|publisher=Awa Press|page=261}}</ref> Hulme's release was unconditional, and she immediately rejoined her father in Italy, while Parker was placed on six months' [[parole]] in New Zealand, after which she left the country.

Less than four months later, the murder was taken as strong evidence of moral decline by the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents in what became known as the [[Mazengarb Report]], named after [[Ossie Mazengarb]], who chaired the committee.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mazengarb |first1=Ossie |author-link1=Ossie Mazengarb |title=Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents |date=1954 |page=7 |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14760/14760-h/14760-h.htm#Page_7 |chapter=Preliminary Observations |quote=the news that two girls, each aged about 16 years had been arrested in Christchurch on a charge of murdering the mother of one of them. It soon became widely believed (and this fact was established at their subsequent trial) that the girls were homosexual. |via=Gutenberg}}</ref>