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The Silent Twins PDF

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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

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