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Sharon Louis Carr (born 21 December 1979) was convicted of the murder of Katie Racliffe on 25 March 1997.

Sharon Carr is most notable for the fact that she was twelve years old when she committed the murder on 7 June 1992, making her the youngest female murderer to be sentenced in the United Kingdom. Katie Raclife was 18 years old when she died after being stabbed approximately 30 times.

Police initially believed that a male was responsible for the crime, as the body was left almost naked with multiple stab wounds to the breasts, vagina and anus, leading to speculation that she had been raped.

The crime remained unsolved until Sharon Carr received a two-year prison sentence for stabbing a fellow schoolgirl at Collingwood College in Surrey. Whilst in prison, she admitted to the murder and Police obtained her diaries and noted that she had written about committing the murder and experiencing sexual pleasure from the killing. Of note is the fact that the stabbing at Collingwood College took place on 7 June 1994, exactly two years after Katie Racliffe's murder.

Sharon Carr was convicted of the murder after trial and sentenced to life imprisonment. At the trial, she denied that she had murdered Katie Racliffe and was convicted on the basis of her interviews with police and the contents of her diaries. Her tariff was set at 14 years in 1999 and reviewed on 17 October 2003 by the Lord Chief Justice, who ruled that it should remain at 14 years. However, subsequent representations were submitted and the Lord Chief Justice again reviewed the tariff on 10 December 2003 and recommended that her tariff be reduced to 12 years.

Although initially incarcerated within the prison system, Sharon Carr proved extremely difficult to manage and attacked other prisoners and staff on several occasions, leading to several transfers between prisons. She was eventually sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983 and transferred to Broadmoor Hospital on 16 June 1998, where she was assessed as suffering from schizoaffective disorder. She remained at Broadmoor Hospital until Broadmoor changed from being a mixed-sex hospital to male-only, when she was moved to a different secure hospital in London.

Sharon Carr remains in the care of mental health professionals. Her tariff expired on 25 March 2009 and therefore she will be eligible to apply for parole if she is returned to prison after being discharged from her section. Whilst subject to section she is not eligible to apply for parole or be considered for release.

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/145_614.htm http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/145_615.htm