Murder of Rosie Palmer

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Shaun Anthony "Tony" Armstrong (born 30 June 1962) is a convicted British child killer. He murdered toddler Rosie Palmer in his flat on the Headland Estate of Hartlepool on 30 June 1994 (his 32nd birthday) and hid the child's body in an airing cupboard, where it was found by police four days later.

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[edit] Armstrong's early life

Shaun Anthony Armstrong was born on 30 June 1962 at Littlethorpe Maternity Hospital in Easington, County Durham. He was the product of an incestuous relationship between his 18-year-old mother Rachel Teal, and her father Joseph Steel. He was brought up by his maternal grandparents until the age of three, as his mother was ill for several years with psychiatric problems. His mother married George Armstrong in 1965 and it was at this point that Shaun returned to her home, being brought up with the belief that Armstrong was his natural father.

As as only child, Armstrong had few friendships with other children and his closest childhood friend was his cousin Andrew (also born in 1962). Andrew died, aged seven, as a result of a road accident in 1969 and this tragedy had a profound effect on Armstrong's behaviour. It affected him so much that he was referred to a psychiatrist, though no details of his time under their assessment have been revealed.

Armstrong claimed to have been sexually abused and raped by his mother as a child, and this no doubt contributed to the break-up of her marriage to George Armstrong. She later married for a second time, this time to Thomas Matthews, but the marriage ended within four years because Matthews soon became very jealous towards his wife.

In 1976, the 14-year-old Armstrong enrolled at the Nautical School in Seaham, where he passed five O Levels and two CSEs in Seamanship and Navigation. During school holidays he filled his time with employment in sawmills and with a television retail business.

At around the same time, Armstrong was reported to Durham Social Services for overt sexual advances made towards his mother. His referral note stated that he came from a "broken" home and his mother was concerned that complications during childbirth (which had prevented her from ever having any more children) had resulted in her son suffering a permanent mental disability. The psychiatrist who saw Armstrong admitted that he was a disturbed boy but doubted whether he suffered from any form of mental illness.

Armstrong left school in 1978, aged 16, and enlisted for Naval training at Plymouth. Shortly afterwards, he gained a criminal record when appearing at Easington Juvenile Court and receiving a two-year Supervision Order as punishment for dishonesty. He was discharged from the Navy within months on the grounds that he was mentally unfit to continue. The reason for his mental state was believed to have been the death from cancer of his 17-year-old girlfriend.

Armstrong came to the attention of the law again in March 1979, when he received another Supervision Order - this time for burglary.

He found employment in 1980 at the Horden Colliery, but was made redundant five years later. He drifted between various jobs, including a two-year spell with a London-based firm, but was unemployed after 1992.

In June 1981, shortly before his 19th birthday, Armstrong married a 26-year-old divorcee who already had two children from her first marriage. He moved into her home in Horden but left three years later after their marriage ended in divorce. By this stage, he had added further convictions to his criminal record, including dishonesty and obtaining property by deception, for which he received a suspended prison sentence. The divorce had a very negative impact on Armstrong, who then self-harmed and was admitted to St Hilda's Hospital in Hartlepool. Upon his discharge, he faced the authorities again - this time on four charges of dishonesty. He was found guilty and was sentenced to three months in prison.

Shortly after his release, Armstrong got engaged to a 39-year-old alcoholic mother-of-four living in Peterlee. He was back behind bars in June 1985 after being convicted on a double charge of dishonesty. Less than a year later, in May 1986, he was back behind bars - this time for two years - after being found guilty on three further charges of dishonesty. His licence had not expired when he re-appeared in court in March 1988 on four charges of dishonesty plus an additional charge of criminal damage. He received a 21-month prison sentence, but was released on parole just six months into his sentence. A few weeks after being paroled, Amstrong finally married his fiancee after an engagement which had lasted almost four years.

Armstrong's mother was diagnosed with cancer in October 1989, and she finally informed her son of his true paternity. She died in February 1990, aged 46, and Armstrong declined to attend her funeral.

Exactly one month after his mother's death, Armstrong was referred to a Clinical Psychologist by his GP, and informed the Psychologist that his father was also the father of his own mother. He also told the doctor of a nervous breakdown that he had suffered eight years earlier on the break-up of his first marriage.

Armstrong faced Peterlee Magistrates Court in June 1990 for public order offences and theft, and received fines totalling £60 after being convicted on both charges.

He admitted himself to Alcoholics Anonymous in July 1991, one month before returning to Peterlee Magistrates Court and receiving a £100 fine after being convicted of theft.

In March 1992, Armstrong self-harmed once again and was admitted to hospital. He told doctors of his troubled life, as well as a previously unknown revelation - he was recently been assaulted by his 17-year-old stepson. His marriage appeared to be dissolving, and Mrs Armstrong claimed that the situation had been catalysed by some of Armstrong's own actions. According to her, he had been a violent wife-beater, went through phases of wearing women's clothes, and had allegedly abused her daughter while they were still engaged.

Armstrong and his wife moved to Plymouth shortly after he left hospital, but she threw him out of their home before the end of the year after she discovered that he had abused her two daughters and grandchild. The next day, a now homeless Armstrong went to see a consultant who described him as having a "personality problem with addiction problems". Police soon investigated the claims that Armstrong had abused his ex-wife's daughter and grandchild, but the investigation failed to result in any convictions and Armstrong returned to Hartlepool during 1993. Shortly after his return to the area, he received a £60 fine for theft at Peterlee Magistrates Court. In the August of that year, the local council gave him a flat in Frederic Street on the Headland Estate.

A return to familiar surroundings did little to alter Armstrong's addiction to alcohol, as he was by now drinking up to two litres of cider per day.

He had barely returned to Hartlepool for one year when he murdered Rosie Palmer.

[edit] Murder of Rosie Palmer

Rosie Palmer (born 1 August 1990) was murdered in Hartlepool on 30 June 1994, just weeks before what would have been her fourth birthday. Her body was found four days later in the flat of a neighbour, Shaun Armstrong.

[edit] Arrest and imprisonment

Armstrong was charged with murder and remanded in custody to await trial at Leeds Crown Court. He planned to feign mental illness and plead guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. However while on remand he had revealed this plan in a letter to a man called Bernard O'Mahoney - who had posed as a woman in hope of getting a written confession from the killer. This letter was given to police and shown to the jury at Armstrong's trial, and he quickly changed his plea to guilty of murder.

Armstrong was sentenced to life imprisonment on 28 July 1995. The trial judge, Mr Justice Ognall, did not make any recommendation as to how many years Armstrong should serve before he could be considered for parole, though in a High Court ruling of May 2006, Mr Justice Crane set the minimum term to 16 years, "subject to a deduction of 12 months and 21 days for the period on remand"[1], meaning Armstrong will be eligible for parole in July 2010.

[edit] Armstrong since 1995

A report in the psychiatric care given to Armstrong was published in June 1996, two years after he murdered Rosie Palmer, and the local Health Authority criticised the standard of care as "inadequate and full of shortcomings", but added that the murder of Rosie Palmer "could not have been predicted".

In July 1997, Rosie's mother Beverley launched a £200,000 compensation claim against the local health authority for allowing Armstrong to be released from their care. The claim was rejected two years later[2].

After a number of years during which very little was reported about the Rosie Palmer murder case, Armstrong returned to the headlines in September 2001 when he was granted Legal Aid to pursue a £15,000 compensation claim against Bernard O'Mahoney for "breach of confidence". Armstrong's solicitors backed up the case by claiming that O'Mahoney had pretended to be a woman and allowed police to see a written statement (the letter in which Armstrong admitted to killing Rosie Palmer, as well as his plan to feign mental illness) which was supposed to be kept secret.

The case was dropped in June 2002 after Armstrong decided he no longer wanted to pursue O'Mahoney for damages. Armstrong also dropped his bid to prevent O'Mahoney from publishing a book - Flowers in God's Garden - which included a section about Shaun Armstrong and the Rosie Palmer murder. By this stage, the proceedings had already cost thousands of pounds worth of taxpayers' money.

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