# The ‘Hen House Boy’: 70 years on from the story of neglect which shocked NI

An episode of [The BelTel](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1620386537), 10 Sep 2026, 24 min.

Audio: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/65670352d7b5d40012be7324/e/6aa01d624fa142971fa193d4/media.mp3

In September 1956 a Crossgar schoolboy made a shocking discovery after peering into a hen house and locking eyes with a child. The eyes belonged to seven-year-old Kevin Halfpenny – but he has been better known ever since as ‘the hen house boy’. Robbed of human interaction – he seemed to have learned his behavior from the chickens around him. His widowed mother Margaret Halfpenny was arrested and pleaded guilty to neglect. 70 years later, the heartbreaking story has been surrounded by folklore. Olivia Peden is joined by Belfast Telegraph Journalist Kurtis Reid. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.