Sharon Carr was 12 years old when she stabbed Katie Rackliff more than 30 times, later writing: ‘I wish I could kill you again. I would make you suffer more. Your terrified screams turn me on’
Britain’s youngest female murderer has been cleared for a move to an open prison.
Sharon Carr – branded the “Devil’s Daughter” – could be free to walk the streets despite still posing a potential danger. Carr was just 12 years old when she knifed Katie Rackliff more than 30 times as the 18-year-old made her way home from a nightclub in June 1992.
Since being jailed, Carr has attacked prisoners and staff, attempting to strangle two nurses. She has spoken about wanting to “snap the neck” of one inmate and was involved in a fight with another who she had been in a relationship with.
Carr has been recommended for a move to an open prison, paving the way for her to be freed. It is now up to Justice Secretary David Lammy to make the final decision.
A summary of the parole board ruling revealed Carr continued to show “evidence of active risk factors during her sentence”. This included “strong sexual attachments or feelings towards others and being unable to cope with rebuffs,” while her positive feelings had been seen to “quickly turn to negative attitudes”.
Carr has now admitted murdering Katie and has “shown insight” into her offending history, the document reveals. She has also completed specialist work to help her better understand her offending, the ruling said.
A prison psychologist did not support her move to open conditions and recommended “a more challenging specialist regime in a closed prison”, the summary reveals. This view was shared by the justice secretary’s representative.
Now aged 45, it was Carr’s fifth parole review after her minimum 12-year sentence expired in 2009. She was described by sentencing judge, Mr Justice Scott Baker, as “an extremely dangerous young woman”.
Carr was held in HMP Holloway before being transferred to Broadmoor Hospital in June 1998, to Rampton Hospital in 2007 and the Orchard Unit in 2008. She returned to high security women’s prison HMP Bronzefield in 2015 as she was presenting a risk to patients and staff.
Carr was moved to HMP Low Newton in 2018 only to be returned to Bronzefield after a violent incident with another prisoner in August 2019. A court previously observed that Carr “formed intense relationships with females that turned into violent fantasies when thwarted”.
She was held under Restricted Prison status, the female equivalent to Category A, until at least 2020 when she lost a legal bid to be downgraded.
Katie was found dead near a cemetery in Farnborough, Hants, on June 7, 1992. The trainee hairdresser was last seen leaving Ragamuffins nightclub three miles away in Camberley, Surrey.
It was not until four years later while Carr was in a young offenders’ institution for stabbing a 13-year-old girl in 1994, that she was finally caught. Diaries seized by police were full of sickening boasts about the murder.
Confessions in her notepad read: “I wish I could kill you again. I would make you suffer more. Your terrified screams turn me on. I swear I was born to be a murderer. Killing for me is a mass turn on and it makes me so high. Every night, I see the Devil in my dreams.”
While awaiting trial, she was sent to an assessment centre where she tried to strangle two nurses. Details of the danger she posed five years ago were revealed by Justice Julian Knowles who refused Carr’s challenge to her Restricted Prisoner status.
Justice Knowles said she had “disclosed thoughts of wanting to murder another resident by splitting her head open with a flask and throwing her down the stairs to snap her neck”.
A spokesperson for the Parole Board said: “We can confirm that the Parole Board refused the release of Sharon Carr but recommended a move to an open conditions prison following an oral hearing. This was a recommendation only and the Secretary of State for Justice considers the advice before making the final decision on whether a prisoner is suitable for open conditions.”
