So she has been jailed for a minimum of 15 years

[wannaBe]

the woman who murdered her disabled daughter



At least her daughter's disability didn't grant her any leniency.

[madmouse]

I thought I was pretty hardenend professionally but as a mum of a boy who probably has cp but is even more gorgeous than this beautiful little girl I am really shocked and so sad.

I am glad that the cp did not grant her leniency. Even if there are conditions which should grant that, mild cp is not one of them!

[lottiejenkins]

She should have got longer!!!

[SparklyGothKat]

How could she?? because she wore callipars!!! Both my Ds1 and DD2 wear splints... its not a big deal!! She could have covered them up FFS!!! If its very mild then she properably wore the short ones and you can roll the sock back over them to hide them.. I am so upset!! what a nasty selfish bitch!! I hope she rots in prison!!

[mabanana]

It was a horrible, horrible thing and I cried for the beautiful little girl and cannot bear to think of her death, but the mother sounds really not at all right. She has been in an institution/hospital since her arrest and the judge said he hoped she would be transferred to one from prison. I feel that given the mum's history of mental health problems/suicide attempts etc and her pleas to her husband for the child to be fostered/adopted, surely alarm bells should have been ringing that she was not coping with parenthood at all. Not an excuse, but I feel someone should have realised something was very wrong. Where was her husband when all this was going on? A dreadful thing all round.

[morocco]

very . poor little girl

just from that article and a brief article on the radio tonight, I haven't read anything else about the case, I'm surprised the court didn't accept her mental breakdown as the reason for the murder though. she had severe pnd after the birth and had suffered mental illness since the age of 17. then after the murder, she dressed her daughter and went out with her in the car for up to 7 hours? When I heard that on the radio, I assumed she was going to commit suicide but changed her mind. Just on that, it sounds like she was having a severe mental breakdown. was there a lot of evidence to the contrary then?

[mabanana]

I believe she was hospitalised with severe PND I think.

[saint2shoes]

didn't see the news as I took dd out of the room.
glad she has gone to prison. and wish people wouldn't make excuses for murder.

[morocco]

it isn't 'making excuses'
if the jury had found that she had diminished responsibility because of a serious mental illness, then she wouldn't be guilty of murder at all. it would be manslaughter. I'm still not clearer as to why the diminished responsibility plea was not accepted. like I said, I haven't read anything apart from this article but it seems like she had a history of serious mental illness.

[Nat1H]

serious mental illness or not - she still murdered her daughter

[morocco]

no
that's my point

she has been found guilty of murder, it's true, and I don't know enough to argue the jury were wrong on that. but if she had a serious mental illness that impaired her mental responsibility for her acts, then she would not be guilty of murder. it would be manslaughter.

[Hangingbellyofbabylon]

my dd has mild CP . I was trying to justify it all as mental illness but my dh said all of the weird driving around with her little body in the car looks like someone who was trying to look as if they have mental problems. At the end of day, a beautiful little girl has been taken from this earth for being disabled and that makes me sad and cross.

[saint2shoes]

she was tried by a jury and found guilty, they surely were given evidence by her defence.
so she is guilty of murder

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

No purpural psychosis was diagnosed afaik.

I'm struggling to come to terms with the stories of parents murdering their children in the news atm.

I cant see how a sane person can kill their own child. But, by the same token, I dont think that excuses them.

[cory]

I can't understand how someone could kill their children. But then I never understood how my mentally ill friend could try to set fire to his house and jump off the Itchen bridge. Isn't that the point of mental illness, that it makes people act in ways that the rest of us can't understand?

[helpfulornot]

I am pleased that her dd's cp wasn't seen as an excuse for killing her, BUT if there is any doubt as to her mental state, she should be in a secure medical facility, not a jail.

HOWEVER, during her questioning, didn't she try to convince the police that she was mentally ill?

I do not know all the facts, it is just so horrifically sad for all concerned.

[saint2shoes]

seems the Jury didn't think that thogh

[saint2shoes]

no, I feel so sad for the poor man,
I maent about her being insane. the Jury found her guilty of murder not manslaughter

[saint2shoes]

so has she gone to prison or hospital?

[helpfulornot]

Prison, for "life", minimum term 15 years.

[mabanana]

SHe apparently was turning up to collect her daughter from nursery reeking of drink all the time. She begged her husband to have her adopted or fostered. She was on strong medication. It seems everyone knew she was in deep trouble, but I don't know what, if any, real help she was getting. I don't suppose anyone seriously anticipated it would end like this, but it seems clear she was not mentally well at all.