June and Jennifer Gibbons (born 11th April
1963; Jennifer died March 1993) were identical
twins who grew up in Wales.
They became known as "The Silent Twins" since
they only communicated with each other.
They began writing works of fiction but later
turned to crime.
Both women were admitted to Broadmoor Hospital
where they were held for 11 years.
June and Jennifer were the daughters of Caribbean
immigrants Gloria and Aubrey Gibbons.
Gloria was a housewife and Aubrey worked as
a technician for the Royal Air Force.
Shortly after their birth in Barbados, their
family moved to Haverfordwest, Wales.
The twin sisters were inseparable and their
particular high-speed Bajan Creole made it
difficult for people to understand them.
As the only black children in the community,
they were ostracized at school.
This proved to be traumatic for the twins,
eventually causing their school administrators
to dismiss them early each day so that they
might avoid bullying.
Their language became even more idiosyncratic
at this time.
Soon it was unintelligible to others.
Their language, or idioglossia, qualified
as an example of cryptophasia, exemplified
by the twins' simultaneous actions, which
often mirrored each other.
Eventually, the twins spoke to no one except
each other and their younger sister Rose.
When the twins turned 14, a succession of
therapists tried unsuccessfully to get them
to communicate with others.
They were sent to separate boarding schools
in an attempt to break their isolation, but
the pair became catatonic and entirely withdrawn
when parted.
When they were reunited, the two spent several
years isolating themselves in their bedroom,
engaged in elaborate plays with dolls.
They created many plays and stories in a sort
of soap opera style, reading some of them
aloud on tape as gifts for their sister.
Inspired by a pair of gift diaries on Christmas
1979, they began their writing careers.
They sent away for a mail-order course in
creative writing, and each wrote several novels.
Set primarily in the United States and particularly
in Malibu, California, the stories involve
young men and women who exhibit strange and
often criminal behavior.
In June's Pepsi-Cola Addict, the high-school
hero is seduced by a teacher, then sent away
to a reformatory where a homosexual guard
makes a play for him.
In Jennifer's The Pugilist, a physician is
so eager to save his child's life that he
kills the family dog to obtain its heart for
a transplant.
The dog's spirit lives on in the child and
ultimately has its revenge against the father.
Jennifer also wrote Discomania, the story
of a young woman who discovers that the atmosphere
of a local disco incites patrons to insane
violence.
She followed up with The Taxi-Driver's Son,
a radio play called Postman and Postwoman,
and several short stories.
Their novels were published by a self-publishing
press called New Horizons, and they made many
attempts to sell short stories to magazines
but were unsuccessful.
A brief fling with some American boys, the
sons of a US Navy serviceman, led nowhere.
The girls committed a number of crimes including
arson, which led to their being admitted to
Broadmoor Hospital, a high-security mental
health hospital.
They remained there for 14 years.
June later blamed this lengthy sentence to
their selective muteness: "'Juvenile delinquents
get two years in prison...
We got 12 years of hell because we didn't
speak...
We lost hope, really.
I wrote a letter to the Queen, asking her
to get us out.
But we were trapped."
Placed on high doses of antipsychotic medications,
they found themselves unable to concentrate;
Jennifer apparently developed tardive dyskinesia
(a neurological disorder resulting in involuntary,
repetitive movements).
Their medications were apparently adjusted
sufficiently to allow them to continue the
copious diaries they had begun in 1980, and
they were able to join the hospital choir,
but they lost most of their interest in creative
writing.
The case achieved some notice due to newspaper
coverage by The Sunday Times journalist Marjorie
Wallace.
The British tabloid The Sun gave a brief account
of their story, headlined "Genius Twins Won't
Speak" (an apparent reference to their having
tested above average intelligence when being
considered for Broadmoor Hospital).
The pair were also the subject of the 1986
television drama The Silent Twins, broadcast
on BBC Two as part of its Screen Two series,
and an Inside Story documentary Silent Twin
– Without My Shadow, which aired on BBC
One in September 1994.
According to Wallace, the girls had a longstanding
agreement that if one died, the other must
begin to speak and live a normal life.
During their stay in the hospital, they began
to believe that it was necessary for one of
them to die, and after much discussion, Jennifer
agreed to make the sacrifice of her life.
In March 1993, the twins were transferred
from Broadmoor to the more open Caswell Clinic
in Bridgend, Wales.
On arrival, Jennifer could not be roused.
She was taken to the hospital where she died
soon after of acute myocarditis, a sudden
inflammation of the heart.
There was no evidence of drugs or poison in
her system, and her death remains a mystery.
At the inquest, June revealed that Jennifer
had been acting strangely for about a day
before their release; her speech had been
slurring, and she had said that she was dying.
On the trip to Caswell, she had slept in June's
lap with her eyes open.
On a visit a few days later, Wallace recounted
that June "was in a strange mood".
She said, "I'm free at last, liberated, and
at last Jennifer has given up her life for
me".
After Jennifer's death, June gave interviews
with Harper's Bazaar and The Guardian.
By 2008 she was living quietly and independently,
near her parents in West Wales.
She was no longer monitored by psychiatric
services, has been accepted by her community,
and sought to put the past behind her.
A 2016 interview with her sister Greta revealed
that the family had been deeply troubled by
the girls' incarceration.
She blamed Broadmoor for ruining their lives
and for neglecting Jennifer's health.
She had wanted to file a lawsuit against Broadmoor,
but Aubrey and Gloria refused, saying it would
not bring Jennifer back.
