Torture girl's plea for help rejected

A TEENAGER told Manchester Crown Court yesterday how he refused to help Suzanne Capper despite her pleas during the week-long ordeal of torture she suffered before being murdered.

David Hill, 18, said he saw Suzanne tied to the base of an upturned bed in a padlocked room. 'She had some kind of cloth over her face from just above her eyebrows to just below her nose. She had no hair,' he said.

The prosecution alleges that Suzanne was subjected to a horrifying 'regime of torture' before being killed by being set alight after petrol was poured over her head.

Six defendants - Glynn Powell, 29, Jeffrey Leigh, 27, Clifford Pook, 18, Bernadette McNeilly, 24, Jeanne Powell, 26, and Anthony Dudson, all from Moston in Manchester - deny murdering Suzanne.

After being dumped in a wood near Stockport, Cheshire, and set alight, 16-year-old Suzanne - who had horrific burns covering 70 per cent of her body - managed to crawl to a nearby lane for help but died four days later in hospital.

Mr Hill said he first heard Suzanne's cries for help while alone in the house where she was allegedly kept prisoner and tortured.

'I heard someone's voice shouting: 'Who is it?'

'I told her (my name) and she asked me if I could help her but I told her I couldn't'

He said he visited Jeanne Powell's home in Langworthy Road, Moston, several times while Suzanne was being held captive, and heard some of the defendants discussing Suzanne.

On one occasion he heard some of the defendants discussing 'dentistry work . . . something about pulling her teeth out with a pair of pliers'.

The prosecution alleges that a pair of household pliers was used to pull Suzanne's front teeth from her mouth.

Asked why he didn't help her, Mr Hill said: 'If I had said something they would have all got me wouldn't they? . . . I just didn't know what to do.'

The trial continues today.