In the United States, most people don't know that 70% of disabled people are exposed to violence. It is alarming how often someone with a disability can be the target of someone's evil intentions. But consider today's story where a disabled woman was targeted by not one but five people.
Five wicked people who tricked her into thinking they were her friends. Any of those five people could have put a stop to it. Could have been a voice of reason.
And when you hear what they plan to do with her, it will make you question your faith in humanity. Gemma was born on September 13th, 1982 to Mother Sue Prince. She had two siblings, including sister Nikki Reed.
According to Sue, Gemma was a bundle of love right from the get-go. She said she was such a character from the minute she was born. She was very, very loving.
She was always wanting cuddles. She added that she had a very kind heart. She was considerate, very loving, and kind.
Gemma wouldn't have wished harm on anybody. But Sue also noticed that from very early on that Gemma was developing differently than her other two children. In fact, she was developing differently than any other child she'd ever known.
Gemma took part in a battery of tests, all which came back without any concrete answers. It was the 1980s, so developmental disabilities weren't diagnosed the same ways that they are today, especially in women and girls. According to her sister, Nikki, one of the most maddening parts of my time with Gemma was the fact that we knew she couldn't do anything that other kids could do.
And yet, nobody took her out of her regular school and put her somewhere else. I don't know how she kept slipping through the net because she was quite obviously struggling. When she was 14 years old, Gemma was placed in a special school for children with learning disabilities.
However, without a proper diagnosis, her mother Sue struggled to find support for her daughter. According to reports, Gemma had 29 contacts with social services between the ages of 13 and 19. During this time, she was subjected to yet another battery of tests, which again didn't muster up any answers.
According to social services, Gemma's learning disability wasn't significant enough. This is an all too common problem that caregivers run into as their child enters their adolescence and teenage years. The child isn't disabled enough to warrant full-time services, but still has special needs that require support, but the need is ignored and the child falls through the cracks on their way to adulthood.
This is exactly what happened to Gemma. According to Nikki, as a family, we've asked for help ever since Gemma was little from social services or teachers or the hospital or the doctor or whoever. For a long time, she didn't fit any criteria.
So the answer was just she's not this or she might be this or she might be on this spectrum or that spectrum. But then somebody else would come along that would say no, she doesn't tick that box so she can't be that. But what Gemma wanted most of all was her independence.
In 2008, she penned a letter to the authorities asking for help with her daily needs and finding a job. It read, "I would like a job. I need my independence.
I would like someone to help me when I ask for it. This is what I need and want in my life. At the time of our story, Gemma was 27 years old and was living alone in a council flat in a gray 10-story building in Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
But because Gemma didn't end up with the resources that she desperately needed, she lived in squalor. Another thing that Gemma desired was companionship. She was described as kind-hearted and trusting.
So, one would think that she wouldn't have any trouble making friends. But unfortunately, if you're a vulnerable person, there will always be monsters lurking about looking to exploit that trust and that goodness. Sadly, this was the case for Gemma.
On August 7th, 2010, family friend Fran Cut spotted Gemma outside a garage near her flat in Rugby. She was accompanied by 19-year-old Daniel Newstead and 21-year-old Chantel Booth, two people that Gemma considered to be her friends. Fran asked her what she was up to.
Gemma advised her that she was headed west to Coventry with the pair. She asked why. Fran learned that Daniel and Chantel had convinced Gemma to steal things for them.
According to Fran, she couldn't seem to comprehend that stealing was wrong because she was doing it for her friends. Fran also learned that Gemma had been coerced by her new friends to store hard drugs for them in her flat. This included crack and heroin.
This is referred to in legal circles as cuckooing. Going is a practice where people take over a person's home and use the property to facilitate exploitation. It takes its name from cuckoo who take over the nests of other birds.
Some examples of this include, but are not limited to using the property to grow, deal, store, or take drugs, which is was happening with poor Gemma. This is also the most common form of cuckooing. using the property to store weapons, using the property to promote sex work, taking over the property as a place for them to live, taking over the property to financially abuse the tenant.
Now, Fran confronted Gemma about storing the drugs for them because she just knew it was bad news. She said, "When I asked her about it, she kept saying, "No, their presence. I'm looking after them.
" She was so innocent in her outlook on people. She really could not judge a bad person if you put them directly in front of her. Unfortunately for Gemma, there were a whole group of bad people that were right in front of her.
Later that evening, Gemma, Daniel, and Chantel went down to the pub. They were accompanied by 17-year-old Joe Ber, 18-year-old Jessica Lionus, and 19-year-old Duncan Edwards. After Gemma joked with the bouncer that someone in their party was only 16, the group was tossed out, much to Shantel's eye.
She responded by bullying Gemma, shoving and pushing her down the road. Jessica punched her in the face. Much of the attack was captured on CCTV.
After putting up with the group's mistreatment the night prior, Gemma made a quick trip to Chantel's flat to pick up some of her belongings. But what was supposed to be a short visit turned into a brutal gang assault that would eventually cost Gemma her life. While detained, Gemma had her nose broken and masking tape was wrapped around her face.
According to Warwickshire lead investigator James Essex, who later investigated the case, they got some cans of beer, urinated into one of them, and made Gemma drink from the can. She was also locked in a bathroom and beaten with a mop. Nikki recalled how the group pretty much tortured her sister for several hours, stating her head was bounced off a big industrial style radiator because all of her blood was up the radiator and up the wall.
To add insult to injury, the gang of five convinced Gemma they were taking her home. They walked her all around Rugby while Gemma ate up every word they were telling her, honestly believing that these were her friends, that everything was going to be okay. According to Nikki, Gemma would have been breathing a sigh of relief.
Only got to get round the corner, she would have been thinking. Only got to get round the corner. But instead of taking her back home, Gemma was marched down an embankment to a set of abandoned tracks.
there. A trash bin liner was placed over her head and the beatings continued. Gemma was stabbed once in the back and then the gang took turns stamping on her head and body.
Some reports have indicated that a distinct shoe print mark was left behind. She was then stripped nude and left face down in the dirt while the gang attempted to light her clothes on fire. Gemma's bruised and beaten body was discovered by a jogger the following day on August 9th, 2010.
A day later, Jessica Lionus made the following post to Facebook trying to distance herself from the crime. It read, "Want to know what happened on Hillyia Road? Is it true they found a body?
" Revisiting the location where her daughter was brutally murdered, Sue later told reporters with the BBC that it's a horrible place to lose your life in the middle of the night. All I could think was why? Why would you do something like that?
She had learning difficulties. She was very vulnerable. And even though they did that to her, I'm quite sure that if she survived it, she would have forgiven them.
They thought everything was fine. What they did was fine. It didn't matter.
It was only Gemma. Gemma meant absolutely nothing. Nikki echoed her mother's sentiments, telling reporters, "I don't know what she could have been thinking.
She was probably thinking, "What on earth is going on? I've done nothing to these people. " She was probably in a hell of a lot of pain.
Thankfully, the local police quickly apprehended the gang and charged them in connection to Gemma's death. Nikki later told reporters with the BBC that on the first day I went to court, I sat up in the gallery and they started reeling off what happened to her. It was one of the worst days of my life.
Horrendous. Horrendous. Gemma's mother, Sue Prince, shared the following victim impact statement with the court, stating, "To have your child murdered by one person is horrific, but five people, five who did not try and stop it happening.
Five and not one of them reported it. I still do not understand how young people such as this could do such a thing. And they have shown no remorse whatsoever.
I love Gemma very much and miss her every day. I fought for nearly all her life to get her diagnosed and get her looked after when she reached adulthood. I do not hate the five.
I'm not sure what I feel towards them. Pity, I think, is the first thing that comes to mind. Such sad, wasted young lives.
The judge, Lady Justice Rafferty, called the group vile. That the murder of Gemma was a chronicle of heartlessness. It is difficult to find the words to express how vile your behavior was.
In August of 2010, she was locked into a lavatory. She called out again and again for her mobile telephone, which was put down in another lavatory to protect you by ensuring she could not get help. I struggled to see how much lower you could have sunk.
She then recounted the events of August 8th with the court. According to reports, Judge Rafferty was so upset watching the CCTV footage that captured Gemma's final journey that she had to turn it off. She said she had to be taken out of the flat, cleaned up so that attention would not be drawn to her in route.
She tagged along, battered in pain and unsuspecting like a faithful, loving dog as you walked her to her death. As she faithfully followed her friends, that's when a plastic bin bag was placed over her head. She was stabbed and subsequently stomped to death.
Ordering to Judge Rafferty, when she screamed, struggled, and shed it, you replaced it. She choked to death on her own blood because of what? There and in the flat you had done to her.
One final indignity was to come. You stripped her naked and left her body where you had dragged it. Gemma died alone.
Judge Rafferty was content with making an example out of the five. Hing out longer sentences than usual. Daniel Newstead, Chantel Booth, and Joe Ber were all found guilty of murder.
Were given life tariffs. Chantel must serve a minimum of 21 years in prison, while Daniel must serve 20 years and Joe 16 years, respectively. Jessica Lionus and Duncan Edwards were found guilty of manslaughter and were sentenced to 13 and 15 years in prison.
Judge Rafferty did have one final parting shot for Chantel Booth. She referred to as a nasty piece of work. She told her, "Over the years, you treated Gemma a hater like a toy to be picked up and put down, dependent, I suspect, on whether there was a gap in your miserable life, which she could fill.
" Outside of the court, Gemma's loved ones said that they were satisfied with the judge's rulings. Sue Prince told reporters, "This will give them plenty of time to reflect on their dreadful actions in August last year when they took my daughter from me. This will never bring her back, but has brought us some closure.
Thank you to everyone who has shown us support. Detective Chief Inspector James Essex of the Warshire Police Department praised his team for their efforts and for working tirelessly throughout the investigation. He said, "Jemma was a vulnerable young woman who was brutally killed at the hands of five people who she considered to be her friends.
" In the wake of Gemma's murder and subsequent trial, a serious case review was conducted by an independent panel to highlight the numerous failures in Gemma's care. As we mentioned earlier, Gemma had 29 contacts with social services between the ages of 13 to 19. Nine of those contacts occurred during the last years of her life.
According to Kathy Mkate, who conducted the review, while there was no evidence that Gemma's murder could have been prevented or predicted, if she had received and accepted better support, she may have lived a better life and been less likely to fall into the company of people who presented serious risks. According to Kathy, Gemma fell victim to what is referred to as mate crime, or when a person is bullied, harassed, or mistreated by people they consider to be friends. She shared that it's not unusual in cases like Gemas where people are living in the community who may be quite isolated and not necessarily receiving services, become involved in relationships with people who don't have their best interests at heart.
Gemma would put up with any level of abuse as long as the person acknowledged that she was a friend. According to Warwickshire counselor Les Kborn, there are steps in place to prevent a story like Gemma's from happening again. He said, "We are sorry.
The whole authority is sorry about what happened. Could we have prevented it? " I don't think so.
But what we are far more certain of now is that the arrangements we have in place will stop such a thing happening again. But sadly, these types of mate crimes are only getting worse. According to a statistical bulletin from the Home Office dated October 16th, 2018, hate crimes among disabled people in the UK were up over 300% between 2011 and 2018, almost a decade after Gemma was killed.
So, while I appreciate counselor Kborn's cander on the matter, it feels like we still have a very long way to go. Gemma's case bears a striking resemblance to the case of Jennifer Dockerty, whose case we covered back in 2023. Be sure to link Jennifer's case in the pin comment and description for you, but we'll give you a brief recap of her case.
Now, Jennifer was a 30-year-old disabled woman living in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. February 8th, 2010, exactly 6 months before Gemma was senselessly murdered by the people she called friends, Jennifer would meet a very similar fate. A group that would later be known as the Greensburg Six proceeded to kidnap, humiliate, torture, and essay the young woman for three days straight.
The gang ransacked Jennifer's purse, and proceeded to steal her money, gift cards, and cell phone. They then poured substances into her purse, hit her head with filled soda bottles, cut her hair, painted her face with nail polish, and dumped various liquids, oatmeal, and spices on her head. Jennifer was beaten with a metal towel rack and a set of crutches.
She was forced to consume laundry detergent in her own bodily waste. Was later stripped, gagged, and essayed. February 10th, the gang took a vote and decided that they couldn't let Jennifer go free.
They forced her to write a note claiming that she wanted to remove herself from this earth or wrapping her in Christmas lights, stabbing her to death with a steak knife, stuffing her body inside of a garbage can and dumping it in the parking lot of the Greensburg Salem Middle School. Thankfully, she was not discovered by a student in that state. Jennifer's case was extremely difficult for me to research and write, as was Gemma's, for obvious reasons.
To think that you're safe with a group of people, a group of people that you trust, only to have that rug pulled out from under you must be nothing short of terrifying. I cannot even begin to imagine the sense of fear and betrayal they both must have felt in their final moments. A documentary entitled Gemma, My Murder was released by BBC 3.
You can watch it in full on YouTube and we'll be sure to link it for you along with Jennifer's episode. Nikki shared a few thoughts about the film on her personal YouTube page. The reason that we do this is to highlight that this sort of stuff goes on um and that there is a vast amount of people out there that need support from not only their family, but anybody that they come in contact with in their daily lives.
Um, one of the running themes from everybody that's messaged me is that they are astounded and disgusted that um, these five people um, that committed this murder exist. Um, and that's kind of made me think, do you know what? They they weren't beaten down from um, an evil planet.
Um, they are part of our society. They are our children. They are our children's friends.
They are the future of of our our culture. I I don't know where it's coming from. I don't know how we are letting them down.
I don't know. I can't believe they were born like it. I'm not the sort of person that thinks that someone's born evil.
But, you know, we are we have a duty of care to every single person that ever comes into our lives to treat them with decency and respect um the way that they would um you you would like them to to treat you. And it's it's quite saddened me actually um the more I've thought about it um watching the CCTV footage and seeing the amount of people in my hometown that um walked past incidences that were were going on that night. Um I'm not saying that they could have changed the outcome.
Um but I'd just like to give you an example. Um I was walking through town a couple of months ago. Um there was about 12 15 kids um well 15 16 years old picking on a homeless guy who I happen to know is special needs.
Now, I could have walked past, you know, I could have done. I could have just put my head down and gone and met my friends, but I didn't. Um, I assessed the situation.
I hung around. Um, I phoned the police. The police had actually already been called, so they got there quite quickly, literally while I was on the phone.
And the group dispersed. And as the group dispersed, four lads came in my direction. Now, I could have just thought, "Okay, that that's been sorted.
" But I didn't. I didn't. I took them to one side.
I said, "Look, you know, I'm sorry, but I've got to stop you. What the [ __ ] do you think that you were just doing? " Sorry for my language.
And they went, "Oh, oh, it it wasn't me. it was our mate. And I could have said, "Oh, okay then.
" But instead, I was like, "Do you really think that your mate would have been stood there having a go at that homeless guy who is special needs if you weren't stood around him laughing? " I said, "You're part of that. You've just helped make that happen.
" And they I'm I'm going to hats off to them. They could have left and blinded. I mean, who am I?
You know, I'm I'm a nobody. But they didn't. They hung their heads and you could see them thinking about it.
And I went on to sort of say to him, you know what you're doing with your lives? You know, who's to say that's not going to be one of you? Because look what you're doing with your life tonight.
You're doing nothing. You're hanging around in freezing cold weather in the middle of town when you've got homes to go to. That guy hasn't got a home to go to.
The last thing he needs is you lot pointing that out to him. Do you do you feel good about yourselves? And they were like, "No, no.
" And they were very apologetic. Now, I hope I really hope that next time one of them think they're in a situation like that, they stop. This is what I said to them.
It would have just taken one of you to say to that little prick, "You're bang out of order, mate. Come on, leave him alone. " And I really hope that my actions will make them think next time.
Nikki thinks that if the systems in place hadn't failed Gemma, then her sister would be still alive and well today. I think I would be inclined to agree with her. Through tears, she shared with reporters that I think if she had assisted living, they could have possibly escorted her wherever she wanted to go and assisted her in daily life.
And as a family, we would have known more about what she was doing and who she was spending her time with. And I certainly don't think she would have been out and about at that time of night when she died. The whole thing is just so sad.
Her life was just so sh all along. So for her to die in such a it's just everything about it is horrible. We wanted her to be independent, but we wanted someone there to help her.
And if she had gotten support at 25, she wouldn't have died.
