A monster who was part of a deranged group that tortured a teenage girl to death in 1992 has died – with the victim’s brother saying: ‘That’s someone from this planet.’
Glyn Powell was one of six people jailed for the barbaric seven-day massacre of Suzanne Capper in Manchester in 1992.
The sickly group eventually doused her petrolset her on fire and sang ‘burn, baby, burn’ before leaving her for dead, but the 16-year-old was able to survive long enough to report her attackers to the police.
Powell, then 29, was one of the leaders, alongside his estranged wife Jean, then 26, and Bernadette McNeilly, then 24.
All three, along with 16-year-old Anthony Dudson, were given life sentences but have since been released.
Glyn Powell was the last of the killers to be released from prison in 2023 and died of cancer The Crime Desk confirmed this in March.
On the eve of what would have been his big sister’s 50th birthday, Stephen Capper, now 46, said: ‘I think they were just bad, to be honest. They manipulated my sister like a slave.
‘I have been fighting to keep them in prison since I was 16, but now they are all free.
Suzanne Capper was subjected to horrific torture and set on fire. She died from her injuries
Glyn Powell, 29, was given a life sentence but was released in 2023 before dying of cancer
The bed where Suzanne Capper was held captive before she was tortured and murdered
Jean Powell, 26, who was jailed for life along with her estranged husband Glyn
“Well, Glyn’s dead, so that’s one from this planet. I want to keep fighting until they all die or they violate their parole and end up back inside. I can never leave this behind. I will leave this when I leave this earth.”
Suzanne’s other attackers were Clifford Pook, then 18, Suzanne’s on-off partner, and Jeffrey Leigh, then 27.
They received 15 and 12 years respectively for their part in her captivity and torture. They were not present when Suzanne was set on fire.
Stephen was only twelve when his ‘best friend’ Suzanne died. He has since suffered from PTSD and mental health problems, and still remembers seeing Suzanne, charred and unrecognizable, in the burns unit at Withington Hospital.
He described how he often nervously bites his nails and throws the clippings into an ashtray, but when his cigarette butt hits them in the jar, the smell reminds him of the stench of burning flesh he witnessed in the ward in December 1992.
‘I know I do it, it’s nervous. And I have to go straight back to the hospital because of the smell, but that was a thousand times worse. That’s what Suzanne smelled like.’
He added: “I think Suzanne has been very let down by a lot of people. Some people think it’s best to forget about this. But I don’t think Suzanne’s legacy should ever be left alone. These people are out. I would like to know if they lived next door to me.
The street in Manchester where Suzanne Capper was tortured before being murdered
Bernadette McNeilly and a gang of satanic co-conspirators kidnapped and tortured Suzanne Capper before burning her alive in December 1992
The house where Suzanne lived in Moston, Manchster
‘Suzanne was a wonderful, kind and funny person. She always took me to the park, we were always out.
“I think she was my babysitter, she always called me a stuck up guy.
‘I was only little so I literally clung to her. Yes, she was my best friend as well as my sister.”
He said his big sister was not a “street urchin” as has been claimed over the years.
‘To be honest, we had a normal childhood. We had family holidays together and went to Torquay regularly,” he recalls.
‘My father worked very hard as a taxi driver, some years we had two holidays. It was a happy family time until my parents separated, and then things changed for Suzanne.”
Stephen and Suzanne’s childhood best friend Samantha Dale, who goes by Sam, will celebrate Suzanne’s 50th birthday – on Tuesday (September 1) – by launching a charity in her memory.
They have also written a book called The Lost Voice: Remembering Suzanne Capper.
On Tuesday, the pair will hold an event where they will launch Lost Voices – which they say will aim to turn Suzanne’s story into one of positive change to help those in need.
The event is being held at FC United in Moston, just a ten-minute walk from the den where Suzanne was tortured by the gang.
Suzanne was stripped naked and her head shaved before being beaten with a piece of wood and a belt
Elizabeth Capper, the mother of murdered teenager Suzanne, at her daughter’s funeral
The Daily Mail report on the capture of Suzanne Capper’s killers in December 1993
She had been tied to an overturned bed in a house on her Moston estate and injected with drugs, her head and pubic hair had been shaved, she had been severely beaten with blunt objects and her teeth had been pulled out with pliers.
Before each terrifying ordeal, her deranged attackers forced headphones on her and played a rave-track sampling dialogue from the horror film Child’s Play, which screamed, “I’m Chucky, do you want to play?”
She was eventually driven by the gang to a remote spot on the outskirts of Stockport and set on fire as the twisted McNeilly sang ‘burn, baby, burn’.
Believing Capper to be dead, the Powells, Dudson and McNeilly returned to the house. But brave Suzanne stumbled up an embankment and onto a road a quarter of a mile away, where she found help.
She was able to survive long enough to tell police who her attackers were before dying four days later on December 18.
Sam said she babysat for Jean and Glyn Powell’s children.
She introduced teenage Suzanne to the family and they met Jean’s brother Clifford Pook at the same time.
He made advances toward Sam and when she showed no interest, he set his sights on Suzanne.
At the age of 14, Suzanne was between homes after her mother and stepfather separated, and she began absconding from school while spending more time with Pook and the rest of the clan.
Little did she know that her on-off lover of two years would later become one of her torturers.
He pulled Suzanne’s teeth out with pliers, and he did it with such force that her upper jaw came loose. Her teeth were found at the house by police.
Months before Suzanne’s life was tragically and brutally cut short, Sam had been told by her parents to stop spending time with her because of the company she kept.
Through tears, Sam said, “Suzanne and I had an argument about Clifford Pook, and that was probably the last conversation I had with her.
‘I know now, as an adult, that it wasn’t my fault, but I’ve carried that guilt since I was 15. After she died, I remember my father saying to me, “That could have been you.”
Suzanne was lured from her home by Jean and McNeilly on December 7.
When they arrived at 97 Langworthy Road with Suzanne, Glyn and Dudson were waiting.
She was restrained and had her head and eyebrows shaved before being beaten for hours with a wooden object and a belt, and suffocated by a plastic bag.
The next day she was taken a few doors down to Number 91, McNeilly’s former home, where the extent of the torture increased over the next six days.
She was moved because she feared the six children in the house – three belonged to McNeilly and the others belonged to Jean – would be disturbed by their victim’s screams.
Because Suzanne was still nowhere to be seen after three days, stepfather John became concerned, and word reached the group.
So in the early hours of December 14 she was driven to Werneth Low, pushed against a bank, doused with petrol and set on fire.
Sam says through tears: ‘Suzanne and I had a very good bond and she always wanted to be famous, a typical girl of that age. She eventually became famous, as we know, but for the wrong reasons.
“We want to try to change that now, so that people can see more of who she really was: a sweet, funny, talented girl who we miss so much.”
