Abusive Mom Eve Howells Murdered by Her Sons

Eve and David Howells lost one child before adding two healthy boys, Glenn and John, to the family. Grief-stricken over the loss of her first child, Eve, a schoolteacher, abused both of her sons from birth, though as her “favorite” John experienced less abuse than his brother.

Rarely did the boys have the opportunity to do normal kid things, like play outside. When Eve allowed them outside, she’d drag them back in by the hair if they did not respond fast enough when she called. Eve smacked them on the back and on the legs, spat at them, yelled and cursed at them, and threw objects at them.

"Fat Fucker" & More Abuse

Glenn suffered more abuse than John because Eve blamed Glenn for the death of her first child and wanted him to pay for her loss. She nicknamed him “fat fucker,” a term she used often to get his attention.

Eve would force Glenn to massage her back while she stood naked in front of him. She also sat naked on the toilet while he bathed or showered. She would force the child to clean dirt out from her toenails.

A neighbor stated that when the boys were two or three, Eve tied them to the kitchen table saying that she and her husband hated using their bathroom because they always heard her screaming and the kids crying.

When John was four and Glenn was six, Eve held a lighter to their favorite stuffed animals, threatening to “burn them alive” while the boys screamed, cried, and pleaded with her to leave the cuddly toys alone. She took John to see a psychologist at the age of five.

Several people called Childline to report the abuse but no one intervene to help the boys.

An Affair Leads to Murder

In 1995, David learned that Eve and his best friend, David Hirst, had a long-term affair. Two months later, Eve was dead, bludgeoned to death with a hammer by her sons. She was a thin, frail woman, stricken with cancer. Eve had a £155,000 life insurance policy that David stood to gain if she were dead.

David appeared on TV asking the public to help bring his wife home. Police said he appeared grief-stricken and distraught and never suspected that he nor their teenage sons, was involved in the murder.

Police initially suspected Eve died at the hands of burglars who broke into the home in Dalton, Huddersfield. David reported a large sum of money missing from the home, after all. Once forensic evidence came in pointing to the boys, police took a different approach and soon arrested all three men in Eve’s murder.

David and Glenn said little to the police. David provided an alibi for the time of his wife’s murder. He had been playing darts at a pub a couple of miles down the road. Glenn, however, made a complete confession, telling police he bashed his mother in the head with the claw-end of the hammer 10 times. He denied murder, stating he killed his mother due to the years of torment and abuse inflicted upon him and his brother.

Men Found Guilty of Murder

All three entered not guilty pleas but were found guilty of murder. John testified in court that all three of them had planned the murder and his dad planned to be away from the home playing darts when it occurred. In 1997 The teens, who were 15 and 14 at the time of the murder, were sentenced to detention at Her Prison’s Majesty for an indefinite period of time. David was sentenced to life behind bars.