True Crime With Caledonian Kitty

*Please note, as you may see by the title of this post. I will be covering the disturbing case of Caylee Anthony's death and the circumstances that may or may not have surrounded that and the trial of her mother, Casey. I will be talking about child abuse, neglect and murder. As always, I will try to be as sensitive as I can with the details without taking away from the facts of the case.*

The heartbreaking death of little three year old Caylee Anthony from Orlando, Florida, is and always will be, a great pain in the heart of anyone who followed the case and hoped so hard for justice to be served. So many people took Caylee to their hearts and it's clear to see that no matter how many years have gone by, the strong emotions that this case brings out in people, is still very much there. 

I've been contacted numerous times to cover this case and I was reluctant to write about it because of the fact that this little angel was treated in such a disrespectful and cold manner (it's always difficult to write about cases involving children). I followed parts of the trial as it was happening and that was bad enough, it made me feel angry as it did a lot of people. 

I found it a very hard case to follow because it had more twists and turns than a roller coaster and some of the ridiculous things that were shared in the courtroom made me scratch my head a few times that this was allowed to take place. The harrowing details, the ridiculous and obvious far-fetched lies along with the behaviours of those involved just baffled me. And then there was that verdict that shocked not just America, but the world. 

By the time the verdict came around I saw the reaction of people and it was mostly of utter outrage, shock and disbelief. Casey Anthony is a free woman as many of you know and there's a lot of people out there who believe she is a murderer, but what do you think? This case has been gone over so many times that another reason I was unsure as to write about it. I didn't think I would bring anything new to the story, but I'm always been told that my readers want my take on a particular case, my way of telling it and possibly my opinion. 

So, here we are, going back over this shocking case and looking at some of the details. I would love to hear your thoughts on this at the end of the post (either in the comments section below or in confidence via my email at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com). It's such a controversial story that it divides opinion, I feel it's important to hear what everyone has to say, after all, none of us were there but it's human nature to have our own opinions about what we think may have happened and what our views may be of Casey Anthony's behaviour and the behaviours of that of her family. 

It's hard to know where to begin with this case so I suppose starting with a bit of background into Caylee's Mother, Casey might be an appropriate place to start. Casey Marie Anthony was born on the 19th of March 1986 to parents George and Cindy. Her parents already had a child, her brother Lee so it seemed like the perfect set up in the beginning, one girl and one boy. However, early on there were some red flags in Casey's childhood. There was a lot of tension between Casey and Lee growing up, both wanting to be the centre of attention and Casey was known to be a bit over-dramatic and a bit of a fantasist at times. She would tell little lies and it was viewed as something that she would grow out of as it was quite common for children of a young age to make up stories in infancy. I remember doing this myself at a young age but grew out of it, so it was seen as harmless at the time. 

Casey grew up in quite a comfortable household financially, her father had worked in law enforcement and she had quite an ordinary upbringing apart from a little rivalry with her brother and making up stories. She was popular and well liked as well as being quite a confident child and sociable. Everything more or less looked positive from the outside looking in. Casey would later say that this was not the case and would give a different story of her childhood later on especially in regards to her father and brother. 

Casey was quite a bright child and as she grew up she was academically gifted as well as being very active in sports at school. She was a pretty girl and had no problem with attracting the attention of boys at school that she liked, however, the habit of telling lies, even about the silliest of things, had never left her, almost like she had a compulsion to do it. In the beginning the lies were not that serious, it would be about little things but the older she got, the worse they got, including lying to her parents that she was all set to graduate and was taking her education and her future very seriously only for them to find out that she had been going off the rails and had not attending school. 

Her parents were not happy about the lying and the situation with Casey not graduating, Being the people that they were (and this becomes clear the more you go into the case), George and Cindy were very much about appearances, they were quite narcissistic and many people believe that this was handed down to their children, in particular, Casey. Instead of accepting that their daughter didn't graduate and looking at other possible options, they decided that they couldn't face the shame of telling the neighbours and everyone they knew that Casey didn't graduate, it was a huge deal for them. So they threw a ridiculous party pretending that Casey did indeed graduate and she went along with it too. It was all one big performance and it was clear to see where Casey had gotten her art of lying from. 

It did seem that Casey could do no wrong in her parents eyes and she was able to play on this and manipulate them. They started to notice that she had put some weight on but didn't think anything of it at first and didn't want to say anything incase it upset Casey and they didn't want to make her feel self-conscious about her body. It was starting to be obvious though that the weight that Casey was displaying, was indeed pregnancy weight even though she kept trying to convince her parents that she was still a virgin. 

There was a huge amount of denial going on at the time from both Casey and her parents, there seemed to be this attitude of not wanting to acknowledge that she was pregnant but eventually they had to face facts and after much discussion (despite Casey's reservations about becoming a mother at such a young age) Cindy convinced her to keep the baby and that they would support her in any way that they could. 

As for the baby's biological father, there's always been a mystery around that with Casey being very vague about it. Despite being a single mother to now, a beautiful little girl whom she named 'Caylee Marie Anthony' (she gave Caylee the same middle name as herself 'Marie'), it didn't effect her love life in any way. She was still a beautiful young woman and had romances with guys who were so besotted with her and adored Caylee. They wanted to bond with both of them but it seemed that Casey was the one who was standoffish. Although she demonstrated on many occasions that she adored her daughter and both she and Caylee could often be seen playing together and hugging each other, there was also this sense of wanting to be young, free, single and out to party sort of vibe that was coming from her. It appeared that the responsibility of being a parent was something that she had a love/hate relationship with. Casey was very lucky because she had her parents there constantly to help her with Caylee. Both George and Cindy were besotted with Caylee and spend almost every single day with her. 

(Caylee Anthony. Picture credit: Medium)

Casey was continuing to live with her parents who were helping her everyday with Caylee. She was also in a relationship with a guy that she had been with for quite some time, Jesse Grund and he was convinced that he was Caylee's biological father but after a DNA test revealed that he wasn't. Jesse still wanted to make things work because he adored them both and asked Casey to marry him. The relationship was not to be though as Casey decided to break it off because she felt that Jesse was paying too much attention to Caylee and not enough attention to her which was another demonstration of her narcissistic personality disorder. Cindy was quite happy that the relationship had come to an end because she had grown extremely attached to Caylee and saw Jesse as being in the way. The more you look into this family and their behaviours, they more it just baffles you and leaves you with a 'what the hell was all that about' sort of feeling. To say this family was odd is an understatement and it's hard to keep track (at least, in my experience of researching this case) of what was going on because there's so many lies, twists and turns to this case, it is not a straightforward story. 

Cindy appeared to be an overbearing mother and often acted like she was Caylee's mother because she looked after her most of the time. Casey had the habit of picking and choosing when she wanted to be a parent, at times she would be affectionate with Caylee and other times she couldn't be bothered and just wanted to go out shopping or have nights out with friends. It was clear that she wasn't mentally mature enough to be a mother and certainly wasn't maternal (this would also be demonstrated in her behaviour later on). As predicted, Cindy and Casey would often come to blows about Casey's irresponsible behaviour when it came to Caylee. Casey didn't want her mother telling her how to bring her daughter up but at the same time she would keep acting like a teenager with no responsibilities. Arguments in the family home became a regular occurrence and it all came to head one day with Casey walking out the house with Caylee. 

The exact circumstances that occurred between Casey and Cindy differs depending on who you believe or want to believe but the next few weeks, Cindy became frantic with worry, missing her granddaughter. When she did get a chance to speak to Casey, she consistently asked where Caylee was and each time there was a different excuse. Casey came up with the infamous and ridiculous lie that Caylee was with a babysitter by the name of Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez (nicknamed 'Zanny'). Every time Cindy or someone else asked where Caylee was, Casey gave a story that Caylee was with Zanny. 

This went on for weeks and tensions grew more and more between Cindy and Casey with Cindy demanding to know where her granddaughter was, she was tired of the stories about Zanny, she knew her daughter was a practiced liar and maybe it was a grandmother's instinct but she knew that something was wrong. 

Whilst all this was going on, Casey was hanging out and partying with friends in nightclubs with Caylee being nowhere to be seen. She was staying over at guys houses, having sex, partying, telling her friends that Caylee was with Zanny. She also told her friends that she worked for Universal Studios as an event planner. In the whole time that she was with these friends, the guy she was seeing and anyone who had witnessed her partying those nights, everyone repeatedly said that she seemed happy, with not a care in the world, no indication in the slightest that anything was wrong. 

It's hard to keep up with the lies but everything was unravelling, as well as everything else, George and Cindy discovered that Casey had been lying about working, she didn't even have a job. Casey had been using her brother's car and when her parents were notified that the vehicle had been found at a tow yard, they began to panic. Communication with themselves and Casey had become scarce and they didn't know what was going on, they were worried and they had no idea who this supposed babysitter 'Zanny' was that Casey had previously been telling them about. 

George checked out the car and noticed all of the belongings inside, Caylee's car seat and toys were still in there. Why would they be in there? She would need them wouldn't she? As well as wondering why these items that every parent needs for their young child, were still in this abandoned car, there was a strong, overpowering smell coming from the trunk of the car and George (who had worked years as a police officer recognised this smell, it was the smell of decomposition) began to fear the worst. There was also items of rotten food in the car along with other bits of clutter. He was terrified that he was going to find Casey and Caylee in the car deceased, he later said his heart was pounding as he opened the trunk. To his relief, they were not there. He got into the car and drove it home. As soon as he pulled up, Cindy came racing out in a panic and the first thing she noticed was the smell, she even said (kind of a unfortunate choice of words at the time) ''What died?''. 

With the state of the car and Caylee still nowhere to be seen, George and Cindy managed to track Casey down to a boyfriend's house and demanded to know where Caylee was. Getting nowhere with Casey, Cindy gets on the phone to the police and tells them she's worried that something has happened to her granddaughter, that she hasn't seen her in weeks, that Casey is constantly giving her excuses and now her son's car has a horrendous odour coming from the trunk. Out of nowhere, Casey comes out with this story that the mysterious babysitter Zanny has kidnapped Caylee and has been missing for just over a month. Cindy and George appeared to be beside themselves.

Casey was questioned about Zanny as she gave more lies about this mysterious woman being Caylee's babysitter for nearly two years. The whole scene was unbelievable, Casey was so unbothered and not acting like a parent who's child had been missing for 31 days. The fact that she had kept this to herself all of this time? To lie to her parents continuously and go out partying with her friends, laughing and joking all the while her little girl is supposed to have been kidnapped. 

As investigators sat back and listened to Casey tell lie upon lie upon lie, they knew that this was ridiculous and instructed Casey to take them to her place of employment, Universal Studios. Casey kept the lies up and when they got to the gate she couldn't get in, she didn't have a security pass obviously and just told the police that she forgot her work ID. The staff at the gate who were used to seeing hundreds, maybe thousands of people everyday, recognised that she was with the police (even though they didn't have a clue who she was) and decided to let everyone in. Even inside the studios she still pretended that she worked there until finally she hit a brick wall and told the cops she didn't work there after all. What did she expect them to do? Take her word for it? She really thought she was a convincing liar. In fact, at her trial, a former friend mentioned that Casey once bragged ''I'm such a great liar''. 

Investigators grew tired of her lies and were highly suspicious of her from the get-go, she was remanded in custody. Her parents came to visit her some time after and they tried to get some proper information out of her because as far as they knew, Caylee was just missing. Casey is still keeping up this performance that Caylee has been kidnapped by the mysterious babysitter who's phone number no longer works anymore funnily enough. Her whole demeanour during her parents visiting her was that of a couldn't care less attitude, Casey was always 100% concerned with herself and that's all she ever cared about was herself and that was true of her from her childhood, right up to the moment she sat in that courtroom not even shedding a tear until they began talking about her supposed hard times during her childhood. 

To be talking about Caylee in the past tense coupled with everything else that had gone on, the ridiculous lies, taking the police to Universal Studios and then admitting she didn't work there, acting care-free despite her daughter supposedly being kidnapped. Her whole behaviour was not one of a terrified parent worried about their missing child. 

With the search for Caylee growing and media attention now on the Anthony family, Cindy and George began to suffer abuse from members of the public who believed (even though no body had been found at that time) that Casey had murdered Caylee. 

Despite the dreaded fear that Caylee was no longer alive, everyone did hope that there would be a positive outcome to all of this and that by some miracle she would be found safe and well but it wasn't to be. In August of 2008, a maintenance worker by the name of Roy Kronk had contacted the police on three separate occasions stating that he had seen what he thought was a human skull. There was a bit of back and forth between Roy and the police until eventually they discovered the rest of what looked like a child's remains in a trash bag. The skull had bits of hair, tissue and duct tape still attached to it, it was clear that this child (who was sadly, later identified as Caylee) had their mouth and nose taped up, in fact the duct tape had been wrapped around the head of this child. In my opinion this was done to suffocate Caylee. 

On the 19th of December 2008 after more remains were found and positively identified to belong to Caylee Anthony, the medical examiner was able to conclude that Caylee had died from homicide but her death was listed as undetermined. There were high traces of chloroform found during the examination but due to the advanced stages of decomposition there was no way they would be able to determine what caused her death. 

As you can imagine, as soon as the news was revealed that Caylee's remains had been found, Cindy and George were devastated as was the rest of the family and members of the public. Casey was still not up or down about it and her coldness spoke volumes about who she really was. George found life difficult at this time, unable to cope with the grief, he tried to take his own life and had a left a five page suicide note. Luckily he survived but the grief for him, Cindy and Lee continued. 

Not only did they have to cope with the horrendous death of their granddaughter and niece, they now had to face a public trial with Casey and found themselves getting the finger of the blame. 

Casey's lawyer was a force to reckoned with despite working on behalf of her, he really did try to paint her in a certain light and he succeeded because Casey Anthony is a free woman. Casey's team had thrown everything they could at the Jury until something stuck. Yet another story emerged of the death of Caylee being in fact, George's fault. They claimed that Caylee had drowned in the family pool and George helped Casey cover it up. Another story was that Casey was now saying that George had sexually assaulted her as a child and that Caylee had died as a result of drowning. Casey and her team claimed that George killed Caylee to stop her speaking out about sexual abuse. Casey also told the court that her father abused her when she was a child and she suspected that he had been abusing Caylee. 

So despite praising her father during one of his prison visits and never saying a thing up until this point, she was now claiming to be a victim of George and that she only lied because that is how George ran the family home. George refuted Casey's claims and sat shocked and in disbelief as he heard her team talk about sexual abuse as well as the claim that George had either drowned Caylee or that Caylee died as an accident from drowning and that he helped cover it up. 

Casey Anthony's trial was broadcast to the nation and beyond, a lot of people believed that the Judge was going to throw the book at her. That's not what happened sadly, she was let go because they couldn't prove if she was responsible or not, they knew she lied and she had spent some time in prison leading up to this moment so they just classed it as time served. 

Casey has been out of prison now for a very long time and has tried her hand at various things from photography and is supposed to be writing a book about Caylee. In the Double Jeopardy law in America, it means that a person cannot be tried for the same crime twice. Many people believe that Casey Anthony got away with murder, what do you think? 

For someone who's daughter was murdered or drowned in the family swimming pool, depending on who you want to believe, there's never been an outpouring of grief from her, no emotion. She's not even looking for the supposed proper justice for her daughter, she's not even bothered. 

George had strongly denied any inappropriate behaviour towards his children. Casey and George do not speak to each other to this day. Casey is still in touch, briefly, with her mother and her brother. Her relationship with her brother is still a tense one as she had told a few stories about him in the past, whether or not these stories were true, one can only wonder especially with Casey's track record for lying. 

In September of 2024, the New York Post reported that Casey Anthony was reportedly in a relationship with a married man of two children. Apparently the man had become infatuated with Casey and had always been attracted to her, telling relatives that she had an ''attractive aura''. The man left his wife and children to be with Casey. It's not the first time we've seen a situation where a guy (for whatever reason, life crisis, bored with married life, tired of being single...who know's the reason) will become fixated on someone who has been in the public eye for all the wrong reasons. If you are a long-time reader of my blog you will remember the Tracie Andrews Case where she abused and murdered her boyfriend and then tried to cover it up by saying his death was the result of a road-rage incident. Well, she ended up marrying a male fan who'd become fixated on her and he left his wife for her. It seems that serial killers are not the only ones who have groupies, for some reason these men are attracted to unstable and dangerous women. I think it's a sexual interest, a turn-on for them to be with someone that they are not supposed to be with. What are your thoughts about this? 

It's clear that no matter where Casey Anthony goes or whatever she does, there's always some sort of drama around or behind her, there are always people left hurt as a result of her actions. 

RIP beautiful angel Caylee, you will never be forgotten x

Further reading & Sources:

- Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony | Book by Jeff Ashton

- Presumed Guilty: Casey Anthony by Jose Baez

- The Mother of All Lies | Book by David Kennedy

- Death of Caylee Anthony | Wikipedia

- Casey Anthony: Article | People

- Casey Anthony: An American Murder Mystery | IMDb

- Casey Anthony: Article | New York Post 

- Caylee Anthony | Biography

- Casey Anthony: Report | CNN

- Casey Anthony: Article | The Guardian

- Casey Anthony | Trial Playlist 

- Casey Anthony | Interrogation Playlist

So, what are your thoughts on this horrendous case? Let me know in the comments below. 

I hope you will join me in my next post, if you would like to help support my weekly content, you can find all the ways to help support or follow me on my other socials by checking out my Linktree

Stay safe & I'll see you in the next post x

As a thank you to all of my readers and a bit of festive fun, I wanted to show my appreciation for all of the support, messages, comments etc over the past year. I'm giving one of you the chance to win a copy of the fantastic book 'The Serial Killer Next Door: The Double Lives of Notorious Murderers' by Richard Estep. I'm also throwing in some delicious Hotel chocolat chocolates, Cadbury's goodies, a Lindt chocolate reindeer, a Terry's Chocolate orange as well as Caledonian Kitty merch & whatever other surprises I can throw in. It'll be a fun and festive parcel. 

So here's the details of how to enter: In the comments section below, tell me what you love most about this time of year. Please also leave either your X or IG handle or email. This giveaway is open worldwide. A winner will be chosen at random and contacted by me on Friday 20th of December for address details. I will then be sending off the parcel by express method. Good Luck!! 

Thanks again and Merry Christmas x 

*Please be aware that the details that I will be sharing in this post will be disturbing and I will be talking about child ab*se. As always, I aim to be as sensitive as I can be without taking away the details of the case. I can be contacted via email at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com*

This case is without a doubt, one of the most sickening cases that I have researched and written about. I'm sure after you've read the details in this post (if you are not from the UK and unfamiliar with the story) you will be just as sickened as I am. 

I always say that one of the toughest experiences in life, is the role of being a parent, not meaning for that to sound negative in any way, but it comes with a huge amount of responsibility....and a lot of fear. I'm not a parent but I respect people who are doing their best to raise their children in a loving and caring manner. One of the things I think must be hard for parents is the moment when your child gets to a certain age and you want them to be sociable and to learn and develop around other children. That moment when parents may have to return to work and have to entrust their child to a local nursery or child-minder. 

When parents dropped off their little bundles of joy at the 'Little Ted's' Nursery in Plymouth, England in 2008, they felt comfortable in the fact that their little ones would be in the care of the 'caring' and 'lovely' Vanessa George. Vanessa was like a big, fun auntie with the kids, she was a bubbly married mother of two children and got on (it appeared) wonderfully with the parents, the children and her colleagues. Nobody had any reason to believe that this smiley woman who would sing songs with the kids, read stories and hand out cookies and milk, could be any way sinister. Vanessa seemed like the sort of person that you couldn't ever imagine her using unsavory language, she appeared to be that squeaky-clean. 

However, with a lot of things in life, especially when it comes to people, Some things (and people) are just too good to be true. It tuned out, in reality....Vanessa George was a monster and even worse, a monster in a small gang of monsters. Not to sugarcoat the truth here so I'm just going to say it, she was part of a paedophile ring.

How did this popular woman who was a married mother herself, be capable of such horrendous things? Well, when it comes to situations with women like this, whether it be a child abuser or a murderer, they will often blame someone else, for example, a man they might be in a relationship with. They will claim that they were forced into committing evil acts by their male partner and that they only went along with it out of fear for their own lives. Just look at the likes of Myra Hindley and Rose West, both of them tried to play it off as the innocent victims of powerful, evil men but it turned out that they were just as evil as their male partners and in many situations, it was indeed them who called the shots. Vanessa George already had evil in her, the mask just fell off when she met someone who shared her sick, hidden dark thoughts and fantasies. 

(Vanessa George. Picture credit: BBC News)

For some people, having a 20+ year marriage, healthy, beautiful children, friends and a great workplace, would be enough in life, a true blessing but for Vanessa George....she was bored. In her late 30's she was looking for a bit of excitement and attention so she found herself online talking to other men who made her feel good about herself, in particular a man named Colin Blanchard. 

Colin was married himself and was a fantasist to the extreme, people who knew him offline described him as 'Billy Bulls**t' because he couldn't go a day without telling a lie. He'd come up with all sorts of grand stories about himself. He claimed that he was a millionaire with lots of cars (when in reality he was struggling to pay his bills and had huge amounts of debt), a luxurious home and would be back and forth to Dubai. Vanessa believed everything he told her and she seemed to hang on his every word. Polite conversation between the pair soon became sexual and Colin's interest seemed to be sparked whenever Vanessa mentioned her day job as a nursery assistant. 

Another dark secret that Colin had been hiding as well as his real lifestyle and mounting debts, was his criminal history. Colin was a filthy, disgusting child predator who had run-ins with the law and had been placed on the sex offenders register for owning indecent images of children. It's sickening to know that this thing was basically given a slap on the wrist because according to the law in this country, he only downloaded the images, he didn't make them himself. He was only on the register for five years before being removed. So this dangerous man who was a threat to children and a pathological liar, just had his slate wiped clean as if nothing ever happened. A disgrace. 

(Colin Blanchard. Picture Credit: BBC News)

As mentioned before, the conversations between Vanessa and Colin turned sexual. It soon switched from discussing favourite positions and fetishes to Colin encouraging Vanessa to talk about the children she worked with. The sick bond between the pair of them was so strong at this point that nothing was off the table, they told each other everything and in Vanessa, Colin had found someone who was a willing participant in the discussion of his fantasies and was also so devoted to him that she was only willing to carry out whatever he told her to to. 

Like all child predators, there is only escalation, these types of people (creatures....I don't know what to call them), the fantasies, the horrific pictures, the nightmarish videos of abuse that they obtain from the dark web, these only sustain them for a while, they will always want the real thing. There will be incidences with these predators such as hanging around outside a school or exposing themselves in a family restaurant. There is always red flags with these people and all that ever happens is that they get a slap of on the wrist, a caution and not long after this a child is attacked, murdered or sadly both. 

With Colin, he'd managed to get away with his actions in the past and here he was on the internet manipulating this bored, gullible woman (who was in no means innocent) into carrying out his fantasies, she was his puppet. Vanessa wasn't the only one that he was talking to online, he had managed to find another woman online by the name of Angela who was also in her late 30s and all three of them would communicate with each other and share their fantasies. Colin had control of both women and they were only willing and happy to do whatever he asked of them no matter how depraved and sick his demands would be. 

(Angela Allen. Picture credit: BBC News)

I will try to be careful with my wording here but Colin had requested that Vanessa take in a sex toy to work and use it on one of the children, she would also use children's toys found in the nursery on her victims. He also told her to do various other things and record everything on her mobile phone to send back to him. She would even record things such as changing the children's diapers and take pictures. The sick videos and images would be sent to Colin and all three would later share and discuss the horrific materials with each other and lord knows what else (i don't even what to know and I'm sure you don't want to know either). 

Over the course of 6 months Vanessa sent around 10,000 messages to Colin which included pictures and videos. Investigators originally believed that the number of children abused was around 300, some of the children could be identified but others were pictured or filmed without their faces showing (it makes you feel sick doesn't it?). Investigators managed to identify at least 30 of the victims so far. Vanessa targeted young children it is believed because they were too young to speak up or realise what was happening. Vanessa admitted to making 124 indecent images of children. I was later revealed that she owned two mobile phones, one she claimed was her normal, everyday phone and second phone was her (as she called it) 'fun phone' which was used to record the abuse and forward on the sickening materials to Colin. Vanessa was arrested after police had searched Colin Blanchard's home computer (after a tip-off from a disgruntled business partner) and found all of the disgusting and indecent pictures and videos which all traced back to her. 

As a result of what happened at Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth, a whole review and investigation was done by child safeguarding services who found that security as well as proper child safety procedures was seriously lacking. Vanessa George pretty much had the run of the place and other colleagues were either too busy gossiping over cups of coffee or seriously lacking in their experience of how to look after children properly. The fact that Vanessa was able to carry out these sickening acts for months on end without anyone noticing is really telling of how that place was run (or not run as the case appears to be). 

Vanessa and Colin were arrested and Angela was tracked down and had her home searched. When the police arrived they found that she lived in quite dire circumstances and was in huge amounts of debts herself, often turning to sex work to make ends meet. It turned out that Angela was not the more quieter of the three of them, in her messages about her fantasies she was reportedly even more graphic and as well as everything else which was sick and disturbing enough, she talked about sex with animals. 

It was later revealed that another two women, both named 'Tracy' were connected to Colin and had also partaken in child abuse bringing the sick total of members of this horrible gang to 5. Colin was always the ring leader and controller of it all with the evil women happy to go along with everything. 

The sentences were pathetic but were as follows: 

Vanessa George was given an indeterminate sentence meaning that there was no actual release date set but she would have to prove that she was safe to be released. The judge did say that she would have to serve at least seven years before even being considered for parole. This was back in 2009 and Vanessa George has since been released from prison despite public outcry from the parents of victims and the public. 

Colin Blanchard was also given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum of 9 years to serve before parole consideration. He is also now back on the streets. 

Angela Allen was issued an indeterminate sentence but again she only served 5 years and has been a free woman for quite some time now. 

With the two women named 'Tracy', Tracy Lyons was sentenced 7 years (but only served 2 years and was released early) and Tracy Dawber was sentenced to 5 years. 

After a reported review and re-vamp of both the services, new staff, training and facilities, 'Little Ted's' has now been re-opened as 'Greenshoots' with the upmost focus on child safety and care. 

This was a horrible case to cover and to know these monsters are out of prison after everything they've done. I can't imagine what the parents must be thinking and feeling. The anger must be insane, how do you even cope with that? I have such respect for the parents and their strength and dignity throughout the whole nightmare. 

Further Reading & Sources:

- Vanessa George: Practice Review Report | Social Care Wales

- Vanessa George: Article | BBC News

- Vanessa George: Article | The Guardian

- 2009 Plymouth Child Abuse Case | Wikipedia

- Vanessa George: Article | BBC News

- Vanessa George Nursery Abuse Case: Article | Nursery World

- Vanessa George: Article | The Standard

- Vanessa George: Article | The Times

- Vanessa George: Article | Community Care

- Vanessa George: Article | Sky News 

I thank you as always for taking the time to read my latest post and I hope you will join me in the next one. 

In the meantime, if you enjoy my weekly content, please help support my work (I'm also currently working on a book) by donating here, you can also find me on all of my social media platforms on my Linktree here

Stay safe & see you in the next post x

(Arthur Hutchinson. Picture credit: gazettelive)

*Please be aware that the details I will be sharing in this post are extremely horrific and disturbing. I will be talking about murder, sexual assault and domestic violence. I will be as sensitive as I can be with the details whilst also not taking away from the facts of the case. Any enquiries, please feel free to email me at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com*

Arthur Hutchinson is still a name that sends chills down the spine of many people who live in Hartlepool, England to this day. He nicknamed himself' The Fox' and from childhood it was plain to see that Arthur was never going to be on a positive path in life. Having been born into poverty on the 19th of February 1941 in Hartlepool, County Durham, his upbringing was difficult and his sisters often tormented him and taunted him. Despite the difficulties in the household, Arthur was close with his mother and had gotten on well with his step-father, very little is known about his biological father. 

He'd suffered an accident when he was a young child which resulted in him being hospitalised. He reportedly spend three days in a coma and when he finally came around he was confused and his personality had changed. The trauma of what had happened to him had a profound physical and psychological effect on him and according to those who knew him closely, he was never the same. Some people believe that it was this particular accident and head trauma that resulted in what was to be come of him later on. 

There was an incident when Arthur was around the age of seven when he and one of his sisters got into an argument. He flew into one of his rages (which were becoming something of a regular occurrence since the accident) and lunged at his sister with a pair of scissors. Luckily she escaped with minor scratches but this was another frightening sign that Arthur was becoming out of control and his temper was getting worse. His mother and family hoped for the best that he would grow out of it and put his erratic behaviour down to his age and still recovering from the trauma of the accident. 

However things did not improve, they continued to get worse....far worse! As a child of just 11 years old, Arthur was continuing his spiral out of control and his behaviour was becoming more disturbing as he developed an urge to commit sexual crimes. It's not known if he saw something on TV that he shouldn't have been exposed to, or that he had been abused himself (there's been no mention over the years about himself being abused) but he was involved in a sexual attack of a young girl. It's a horrific thought to think that he could have been capable of such a sickening act at such a tender age but that is what was happening and it continued throughout the following years, he'd faced the courtroom numerous times because of his disgusting and predatory behaviour.

It wasn't until he attempted to murder his half brother over a dispute about money that he was finally locked up for just over five years. His behaviour up until this point was not addressed properly. Arthur had been in nothing but trouble from a young age he'd been involved in petty crime, violence, attempted murder and sexual assault, it was clear that things were only going to get worse but still, he learned nothing from his time in prison, as soon as he was released he was set to go on and commit the most evil and sickening crimes imaginable. 

During his time out of prison there were moments when it looked like Arthur could have had a chance at a normal life and worked on changing his ways but he was too far gone and any moments where he had demonstrated a 'nice side' was short lived. He'd been married a few times and each marriage did not last long due to his constant infidelity and he couldn't keep his temper in check, often lashing out violently and during sex he would often be extremely aggressive. Arthur was a danger to women and even his own mother fell victim to his evil rages, he had struck his mother quite a few times over the years and had no problems doing this in front of other people. 

Arthur was never out of trouble, constantly committing burglaries and had also committed a horrendous sexual assault. The police finally managed to get their hands on him but whilst he was at the police station he asked if he could use the bathroom, before anyone knew what was happening, Arthur Hutchinson had escaped out of the bathroom window (it makes one think about the time that infamous serial killer, Ted Bundy, managed to escape from a courthouse after he tricked officers into letting him use the library for study. You can find my post on the Ted Bundy case here as well as the '10 Facts You May Not Know About Ted Bundy' post here).

So Arthur was on the run for nearly a month and it was during this time that on the 23rd of October 1983 his horrible career or crime was to take and even more sickening and evil turn. Whilst on the run he had been trying to keep a low profile and was continuing to break into homes, steal items, steal food and drift from place to place. However, on the cold night of the 23rd of October his plan to break into another home turned deadly. 

Arthur had broken into the family home of the Laitner family who had just been celebrating the wedding of Basil (59) and (55 year old) Avril's oldest daughter, Suzanne. It was a beautiful ceremony which took place at the house and the two parents couldn't have been more proud. After the celebrations were over, Basil, Avril and their younger daughter (18 year old Nicola) and their son Richard, all settled down in the house for the night when Arthur Hutchinson broke in via a patio door. The Laitner's were a well respected and hardworking family who had worked hard for everything they had, they had a beautiful, luxurious home and the wedding had been attended by numerous relatives and friends who'd travelled far and wide. They were well liked in their local community and were very popular, but on this night, which was supposed to be a night of joy, happiness and contentment after a beautiful celebration of marriage at their dream family home, it all ended with a horrifying nightmare. 

Arthur managed to get into the house after he had been watching the house all day, he knew there had been a wedding and could see how well-off the family were. His first victim was reportedly Richard who was repeatedly stabbed to death in his bedroom. It was a ferocious attack and the scene was horrifying. A very gruesome and horrifying end for a young man, who at only 28 years old, had his whole life ahead of him and dreams and goals he was working on never to have the chance to accomplish. With all the commotion Richard's father Basil decided to get up and check on him, this was the horrible moment in which the 59 year old man was greeted by Arthur Hutchinson who stabbed him three times, the force and shock of the vicious attack caused Basil to fall backwards down the stairs. 

Arthur was not yet done his horrendous rampage on this innocent, lovely family who did nothing to deserve this evil. Avril was next to suffer with repeated stabbings that reportedly totalled 26 times, she fought as hard as she could for her life against this evil monster. There was no need for this level of sick murderous violence, he could have just burgled the house and then left but he was full of rage, full of demonic anger, who knows what was going through his sick mind but if all that wasn't enough hell, he coldly walked up the stairs to 18 year old Nicola's bedroom and planned for her to be his final victim. 

There was blood all over the place and the demon himself, Arthur Hutchinson, was covered in blood. Nobody could imagine the sheer terror that Nicola must have felt seeing this evil thing in her bedroom. He threatened to kill the poor girl if she didn't do what he demanded, he sexually assaulted her as he was covered in the blood of her family. His sickness knew no bounds, after what he had just done, he was turned on by it all and it just makes you feel sick to think of such evil but these were his actions that night. Nicola at this point was unaware that he had murdered her parents and her brother but seeing the blood gave her an idea that something horrendous must have happened to her family. 

It was only when the sick killer and ra*ist forced the poor girl to walk down the stairs after he'd finished attacking her that the realisation of what he had done to her family had come to be known. The deceased body of her father Basil was lying on the ground, his blood everywhere and she was forced to walk through her father's blood in her bare feet and out into the wedding marquee that was still in the garden from the wedding celebrations just hours before. 

It was in this beautiful marquee that more hell was to be suffered as the sick and evil monster that is Arthur Hutchinson, handcuffed the utterly terrified and traumatised young girl to a chair where she was subjected to more sexual assaults before he blindfolded her. He only stopped the sexual assaults when he decided that he wanted to take a break and eat some of the leftovers from the wedding buffet that was still left on one of the tables. He even drank wine and talked random things about what he had done to her parents and brother. He was determined to put this poor child through never-ending hell. The ordeal was still not over as Nicola was dragged back up to her bedroom where more sexual assaults continued over and over and over again. Nicola believed that she was going to to die and at that point, any bit of strength left in her had evaporated, she was beyond traumatised. Nobody could imagine the sheer pain and trauma of what going through that must have been like, none of us ever want to know for that matter. 

He finally brought Nicola back downstairs, still covered in the blood of her family and in utter despair to her surprise he left her there alive. It took Nicola three days to be able to talk after this horrifying ordeal, the hell was unimaginable for this young girl. Investigators were able to take the details of what Nicola had been brave and strong enough to have given them plus the teeth marks that had been left on a piece of cheese found on one of the tables in the marquee which had partially been eaten by Arthur. There was also a thumb print off his which had been left behind on a glass. He was very careless in leaving evidence behind but he was that pathetically sure of himself and how clever he thought he was that he probably assumed that the police wouldn't examine them because hundreds of people had been in the marquee previously. So he probably believed that evidence of the murderer would be hard to track. 

He managed to evade justice for about two weeks but was finally caught on the 5th of November 1983, hiding on a farm in Hartlepool. Initially he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 18 years which horrifically he would have been out right now if it wasn't for Leon Britton (who was the home secretary in 1983) having it determined that he serve a whole life tariff, meaning he will never leave prison alive. I'm sad to say that this monster is still breathing at the current age of 83 (at the time of writing this post - 2024), he's appealed his sentences numerous times to no avail and never expressed any remorse for what he did. 

Despite how evil he truly is and everything he had done, his mother (Just like Ted Bundy's mother) had this never-ending unconditional love for him and stood by him despite everything. She refused to believe that he was responsible for the horrifying events that occurred on the 23rd of October 1983. The red flags had always been there from his childhood right up until the prison gate was shut behind him for the final time, she lived in denial about him. Maybe because the thought of your own son being this horrific monster was just too much to take. You can't help but feel sorry for her in some regard because obviously she never wanted any of that to happen. She was also a victim of her own son and possibly psychologically damaged in some ways herself. I think the knowledge that your own son could do such things is enough to drive anyone insane and mentally ill. 

Nicola who was incredibly brave during the trial as well as on that horrific night in which she was subjected to the most unbelievable nightmare as well as losing her family in the most evil way, stood and faced Arthur Hutchinson in court. The evil monster claimed that she was actively part of everything that had happened. Nicola bravely stated the facts of the case and it was revealed how she was so incredibly brave that night that she went into automatic survival-mode. Whilst the sexual assaults were taking place, Nicola pretended to Arthur that she was enjoying what was happening in an attempt to survive, she knew that if she protested against him, he would most likely kill her too. Despite the horrendous ordeal that she was going through she had the remarkable presence of mind to keep composure, follow his demands, play the role and keep herself alive. When she was able to speak about what happened her information which was in remarkable detail, was invaluable to the police. 

She may have only been 18 years old but she was an incredibly strong and brave young woman to be able to do everything that she did. Today Nicola would be 59 years old (I hope she is still alive and well and has been able to go on and live a full and healthy life), the same age her father Basil was when he was horrendously murdered. Wherever Nicola is I wish her nothing but the best and truly admire her. I can imagine that knowing that monster is still alive must be hard, one wonders what she must think about that. Would his death bring her some sort of closure? Maybe she has come to some sort of peace in her mind knowing that he's been behind bars all of these years? It's hard to imagine what she and the rest of her family have been going through all of these years. 

This case might be 41 years old but time has done nothing to dull the horrendous facts of this case, it truly is the stuff of nightmares. I know it must have been a very difficult read and it was a very difficult case to research and write about. My heart goes out to Nicola and the surviving members of her family as well as anyone who has had the unfortunate experience of having had Arthur Hutchinson in their lives. RIP Basil, Avril and Richard, you will never be forgotten. 

Further reading & sources: 

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | BBC News

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | Hartlepool Mail

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | Scottish Legal News

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | The Independent

- Arthur Hutchinson: Documentary | Britain't Most Evil Killers - Sky TV

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | The Guardian

- Arthur Hutchinson | Wikipedia

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | The Times

- Arthur Hutchinson: Article | The Northern Echo

- Leon Brittan | Wikipedia

- Hartlepool | Wikipedia

- List of Prisoners With Whole Life Orders | (UK) Wikipedia 

Thank you as always for taking the time to check out my latest post, I know it was a difficult one to get through. I hope you will join me again in the next post and if you would like to share your thoughts on this case please do so below in the comments section or in confidence by email to jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com 

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