The Silent Twins

163 Pages·13.901 MB·English

by  Marjorie Wallace

THE ASTONISHING TRUE STORY OF THE
EXTRAORDINARY TWINS WHO
JOURNEYED INTO MADNESS AND BEYOND...

is
¥ I EAT1J OPI‘hCa > WaJl yl la, ce “>
"This is {a} remarkable and tragic story....its depth
and penetration and detail, no less than its extraordinary
subject matter must be seen as outstanding
Oliver Sacks, author of THE MAN WHO MISTOOR MIS WITE POR A HAT
(2:2) SamanninePsychologywS4602E3 95
RB
The Silent Twins first made the news when
they were nineteen years old and convicted
for arson and theft. It was the shock of
their sentence ~indefinite detention in
Broadmoor, England's Hospital for the
Criminally Insane—that led the eminent
British journalist Marjorie Wallace to them,
to a small, cold room where they were
brought in immobile and mut— eby
choice....

“We can only hope that this moving account
will inspire a new look at the fate of these
two talented, disturbed, and ultimately
innocent girls... extraordinary.”
San Francisco Chronicle
“A thoroughly researched, moving, and
well-honed piece of work.”
Loe Angeles Times
(more)
"Their love-hate relationship is given great
“In dramatic style, Wallace relates the
emphasis as a main factor in their pitiful
helpofl thee adsultss whno uensucscesssful ly
story....Marjorie Wallace in to be
try to break the twins’ barriers to
on bringing to our attention
communciation....Wallace is adept at
with such skill and empathy the tragic atory
descanrd tihisp tatle oif tohe nlov,e/ha te
of the Gibbons family, We will all get
relatrieaods nliske ha niovpel. ”
something valuable from it.”
Library Journal
London Sunday Times
“[Wallace] has stripped away many of the
“The arresting tragic story of freak twin
veils that have surrounded the twins, and
succeeds where others have failed in sisters...A fascinating read for anyone who
likes Oliver Sacks-type medical histories
discovering what launched these introverted
and for anyone else, too... Wallace uses
girls from secretive, self-exiled,
great care and insight to explore and unravel
non-communicative writers into a

the minds and feelings of the two. She
non-communicative orgy of drugs, sex, and
effectively chooses quotes from their diaries
eventually arson.... Wallace presents the
and ficti— oqunotses that tell their tale
fascinating account of the twins’ early years
better than any outsider can. It's through
in a compelling almost novel-like style that
these quotes that the story, at other times
combines clements of sinister menace and
enraging or unreal, becomes simply very
humour.”
Social Work Today, London sad.”
The Kirkus Reviews
“Were this study not well documented, it
“An exemplary piece of research and
would rival the most sensational fiction.”
writing.. -certain to be one of the
Publishers Weekly
distinguished books in its category..
The Pitteburgh Presa
THE
SILENT

TWINS

) Marjorie Wallace
|
)

BALLANTINE BOOKS #¢ NEW YORK
To Doris Wallace Harwood—
a remarkable mother
Cop© y198r6 byi Magrjorhie Wtall ace
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions, including the right of reproduction in whole or im part
in any form. Published in the United States of America by Bailan-
tine Books, a divoif Rsandiomo Honuse , Inc.. New
nally published in Great Britain by Chatto & Windus Ltd, im 1986.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 86-12244
ISBN 0-345.34802-4
ecahars co scapes Aegan amas
division of Simon & SchusteIrn,c.
Maneitn thae Ucnitetd Sutaters oef Amden ca
First Ballantine Books Edition: November 1987
CONTENTS
Acknowledgementsxi
Illustrations — xiii
Introduction 1
1 Happy Families 10
2 Mocking Birds 28
3 The Dolls' House 48
4 The Glass Town 67
5 The American Dream 99
6 Aftermath 128

7 War Games 158
8 Shadow Play 188
9 Blind Judgement 222
10 Floweinr Hsel l 256
it
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, | should like to acknowledge the
of Aubrey and Gloria Gibbons, the parents of
the twins, who trusted me and gave me unwavering help,
even when it meant great sacrifice to themselves, their
family and their privacy. Without their strength to carry
the decision that their daughters’ story should be
told, this book would not have been written,
I should also like to acknowledge the brave concern of
Tim Thomas, the educational psychologist who first as-
sessed the twins, It was his fears for their future which
prompted me to take an interest in their story and, de-
| from less imaginative colleagues and at
¢ risk of his job, he gave me and the Gibbons family
every possible support, His wife, Susan, and his children
had to suffer much unpleasantness, but they have always
re him.
My thanks are due to many people in and around
Haverfordwest including Dr Evan Davies, Cathleen Ar-
thur, the twins’ special teacher, who lent me her thesis,
and the police, who opened their files to me.
Tam grateful to the governor and staff at Pucklechureh
remand centre for allowing me access, to Dr. William
Spry, the psychiatrist for the twins’ defence, Dr John
n, director of Broadmoor special hospital, and to
some doctors, nurses and social workers there. In particu-
lar, I should like to acknowlege Dr Boyce Le Couteur,
who invited me to visit and encouraged my continuing
contact with June and Jennifer, and ie Douglas Hunter,
social worker, who checked the chapter on Broadmoor.
I should tike to thank Mary Senechal and Frances
Angliss for their excellent help in the task of transcribing
the diaries. Also Kim Bourne and Sally Baker.
FLLUSTRATIONS
Most important of all, | am indebted to Tom Margeri-
son, whose firm judgements, patience and kindness have
sustained me over the three difficult years of my involve-
ment with the twins.
The Gibbons family, Aden, 1963,
The twins at two years.
The twins at six years with sister Rosie.
The twins at school age.
Greta’s wedding, April 1978.
The twins at ten,
One of their drawings of twins.
The twins at Eastgate Centre for Special Education, 1977,
Furzy Park, Dale Road RAF estate.
The twins as teenagers.
The twins and Wayne Kennedy.
The Kennedy house at Welsh Hook.
The swing park.
Jennifer's drawings at Pucklechurch Remand Centre.
The twins’ parents at the trial.
Jennifer in Broadmoor, 1982.
June in Broadmoor, 1982.
Letter from June to the author.
Extract from Jennifer's prison diary.
Introduction
RZ

As 1 look out of the window
There I saw the bird sitting alone.
His feathers ruffled in the snow,
His beak firmly closed to the world.
Just like I was, but who was to know.
June Gibbons
Haverfordwest is an uninspired little town with spiky
outlines, its houses stuck to the hills like the crusted
nes of an ancient reptile, Sct at the western tip of
Pembroke peninsula, the capital of West Wales, it
embodies centuries of spiritiess days of cloud and rain,
Old streets and new housing estates merge effortlessly
in the overall grey. The inhabitants too seem to have
taken the weather into their souls, speaking in a soft

squelching brogue and keeping their inner selves
tightly shut against the elements. At the top of a hill,
set between the abandoned racecourse and town, there
is one of these postwar housing estates—nondescript
terraces of two- to four-bedroom houses built for the
families of ‘other ranks’ from the nearby RAF base at
1
2 THE SILENT TWINS Introduction 3
Brawdy. Although the grime on the pebbledash bears Ever since they had left school, with only one CSE
witnessto many years of living, the estate retains the each to their credit, they had shut themselves away in
look of temporary dwellings. Almost every garden has their bunk bedroom, never coming down to meals,
rema asoliid pantche of dgre en. Few trehavee sbee n never even smiling at other members of the family or
planted, and fewer flowers, acknowledging their presence in the house, The girls
In number 35 Purzy Park, the end house of one of were deeply attached to their family, and demon-
the terraces, lived the Gibbons family, then the only strated it in dozens of small indirect ways, but they
black family on the estate. Aubrey Gibbons, a hand- could rarely express it openly. At times there was so
some man with consicdharem randa ab delsiree t o little contact, and they were so much engrossed with
please, worked as an assistant air-traffic controller at their own secret affairs, they were more like enemy
the base. Since leaving Barbados twenty years pre- soldiers billeted with the family. Day after day Gloria
viously, he had buial satfe , if not meteocrarcierc w,it h would find them either lying in their nightclothes on
the RAF. His wife, Gloria, four years his senior, had their beds or tapping industrati thoe utwso ltyype -
brought up their five children, following her husband writers they had asked her to buy from a mail-order
round a succession of RAF stations. They were a catalogue, One day, as she delivered the post outside
close, respectable family, pleasant to talk to but reluc- their locked bedroom door, Gloria’s curiosity got the
tant to mix with their neighbours. The children were better of her. She opened a packet and, lifting out a
all polite and well-behaved. There was nothing re- thick yellow pamphlet, looked at the title: ‘The Art of
markable about the Gibbonses; they went about their Conversation’. Close to tears, she read the words as
daily business disturbing no-one. Nothing remarkabic though unwilling or unable to believe what was in front
—except, of course, the twins. of her, For since they were small children June and
June and Jennifer were identical twins (although Jennifer had refused to talk to anyone: to Aubrey, to
Gloria had always believed otherwise). They were their older brother and sister, even to her, Gloria
pretty and petite, with unusually fine features. They thought back over the years of disappointment and
spent most of their time together in their bedroom worry, ‘Oh, Twinnies,’ she said, “You really are trying
above the living room, playing with dolls, even at the now,’
age of sixtcen, chatting to one another and listening to
the radio or tapes of pop music. Occasionally, they I first heard of the silent twins in April 1982 when I
would put on some make-uspty,le their hair and stroll was working as a writer for the Sunday Times and re-
into the town. They would collect their unemployment ported on their trial on charges of arson and theft. It
benefit and return with books of stamps, pens, note was an extraordinary occasion, The twins, tiny and
pads and exercise books. Every day the postman vulnerable, said not a word apart from a few grunts
would deltio vMiessers J. and J. Gibba odonzens o r which the court interpreted as pleas of guilty, The
so letters, large brown envelopes and Jiffy bags. Glona unemotional legal pantomine went on around them
would collect them at the door, a look of increasing without touching them. A doctor gave evidence; the
bewilderment on her face. What were her twin daugh- lawyers made their submissions; the judge pronounced
ters up to? sentence. It seemed simple, unthreatening, but the