Lindsay Clancy case: was it evil, or severe mental illness?

Seriously though, anyone who does something as horrific as this(whether pre-planned or not) has got to be mentally ill. No sane person would ever do this - whether planned or not.

It's very basic anatomy, no medical person would have to google it

Mental illness, just pure evil or manipulative planner this person should bot be allowed near other children or vulnerable people they could hoodwink or coerce or as in this case, murder. May be the tormented soul should face the consequences they put the children through? This case will haunt me till the day I die. The labels we now give to middle class dilemmas where there are plenty of doctors or professionals to support or evaluate ( they were not dirt poor living in isolation or ignorant as having education) children were not given a chance to live their lives so I can only prescribe the same solution to the mother.

Who is lindsey clancy?

She missed it though? Maybe that was why.

She was a midwife so usually at other end. Probably wanted to refresh her memory.

It has been stated in the trial if you’ve watched it, the drs on the stand have stated quite clearly there where no signs of PPP prior, she was not diagnosed with ppp prior and they have stated on the stand that the facility she is being held at now, she is doing well, engaging, has heard no voices prior or after the event.

how can a diagnosis of PPP be given if no one saw her in the throes of a psychotic break? No one was present at the killings but her and the children. So the diagnosis is based on an assumption of what she did and her actions in reality. Otherwise you’d have to come to the conclusion that to do something like that and not be seriously mentally unstable you must be evil.

How? She told Patrick and her mother in December she had thoughts of harming her kids. She was fully aware then. She could have easily have said please take the children and keep them safe or committed herself back in to hospital. She said she was fine to the hospital when she committed herself for a few days and was discharged just over 3 weeks before she killed them. She showed no signs of ppp at that time.

Fascinating that more than 11 treating doctors, several of them psychiatrists, several of them working in the field of post-partum mental health, came to a different diagnosis to you - who have never met her, let alone attempted to treat her - and all have firmly stated she showed no signs of psychosis.

She was prescribed multiple medications but didn't take any of them consistently enough to see results (many of these medications start taking effect only after 4-5 weeks of continuous use). As a nurse, she knew this. She did not adhere to any of her medications - execept for the benzos.

She was discharged after one day from Women and Infant's hospital because team the clinical team in the postpartum depression program believed her symptoms were "more pharmacologically induced than purely depressive."

She was referred to three other hospitals but did not follow up on the referrals.

She was admitted to psychiatric facilities on multiple occasions but checked herself out of them after a few days. She did not go to therapy consistently outside of these brief stays.

She told her major treating psychiatrist the day before she murdered her children that she had no thoughts of suicide or homicide. She was playing in the snow with the children, building them a snowman, before she sent her husband off on that series of erands - the timing of which she mapped out on her phone prior - that allowed her the window to strangle them one after the other.

On waking in hospital, her first thoughts were for her own welfare - should my get a lawyer, is my body broken, how are my legs - not her children.

Funny kind of psychosis.

I think she may have been suffering with depression or anxiety of some form. She was very protective of the children and didn’t want them staying over at anyone else’s home. She had a fear that no one else could care for them the way she could.
there was clearly an issue. She wasn’t taking her medication correctly, wasn’t happy with what she was given and said she didn’t like it before giving it a chance to work or her body to adjust to it.

i personally think she planned to kill the kids and herself, but when he failed to kill herself she made up the ‘voices’ she said she heard telling her to do it.

It’s still no excuse to murder 3 children. No one would have the same feeling as ‘poor women, ‘poor man’ had they murdered one of their own or someone random in the street and said they were suffering from psychosis.

she wasn’t even diagnosed with it prior to the killings. Every dr she saw said they saw no signs to say they believed she was suffering with ppp. She was discharged from hospital just over 3 weeks before the murders with an all clear. After telling them she had no thoughts of harming herself or others. The first time she mentioned any thoughts of harming the kids was in December prior to the murders in January.
psychosis has only been mentioned after the killings.

Here you are spelling it out. This is obviously incorrect.

I wasn't saying that was their entire case. I was trying to point out the basics which you seem to have missed.

I won't repeat all of your multiple posts asserting the reverse and/or all sorts of gibberish, but just a few lines where you completely contradict yourself regarding what you say is Massachusetts's law -

From the point of view of the defence, her judgement was impaired due to declining mental health. Both arguments can be backed up with evidence. However, Massachusetts law does favour the defence because the prosecution have to prove that LC wasn’t mentally unwell (despite the fact there’s extensive evidence that she was).

Again, Under Massachusetts Law the prosecution HAVE to prove that LC wasn’t mentally ill when she carried out the killings.

But under Massachusetts law, it doesn’t matter whether it was postpartum depression or psychosis.

Well, clearly it does and you have misunderstood their laws. Nobody on the prosecution is disputing she had postpartum depression.

It is a very strange case but I'd give her the benefit of the doubt - she was suffering severe mental illness and doing everything that she could to get help. Seeing various professionals, going into hospital, arranging for her mother to stay with her for a time, and taking various prescribed drugs, some of which increase the likelihood of suicide. Her husband and mother in law both testified what a wonderful caring mother she was, and work colleagues said she was a great maternity nurse. So why would she suddenly become 'evil' and kill her kids? It makes no sense. Experts testified that even if she had psychosis she could still do the normal, mundane things, like arranging a takeaway. So if I was a juror I'd go for the mental illness option.

Indeed, but it’s strange how hers happened most significantly when he was out the house (planned by her so not accidentally….!!)

What’s the chances that was completely a random act and timing…. I say not so much a random act!

Heart crises can come out of the blue. Likewise mental state can suddenly deteriorate resulting in harm to self or others, which are key criteria for sectioning.

Why would a nurse also have to google to find out where the carotid artery is?

We don't know who googled them

It doesn't work like that......jeez

He seems to have all the answers. Yet, not being asked the relevant questions imo.

The problem with that is that anyone that kills could claim psychosis. So we either assume anyone kills is mentally unwell and is psychotic, but we know that’s not always the case.

A degenerate heart doesn’t wait until it’s appropriate to weaken. It doesn’t get significantly worse at a time where it suits the narrative.

It happens when it happens regardless, not preventable, can’t be hidden, it happens when it happens whenever that may be.

Strange how her “Psychosis”‘ happened at the most appropriate timeframe to be able to do what she wanted in the time her DH was out. It’s as if it was planned……….!

This is my argument too. Surely a person that is capable to kill someone that isn’t self defence has some form of mental illness/disorder? Nature made mothers to love and care for their children and it is the case in majority unless there’s a disorder or mental illness. Not saying the killer should get away with it. The question is whether she wasn’t aware of what she was doing, ie psychosis

It’s horrifying in 2026 that so many people still have no real concept of what psychosis is. Your brain, like your heart and liver, is an organ. It can go wrong. Psychosis leaves you unable to trust your senses or memory, in a different reality to everyone else. It’s terrifying for you and for those around you. It is no more a character flaw than heart disease is, and it can happen to any of us at any time. It happened to my 85-year-old Nan during lockdown, one of the sweetest and gentlest people I’ve ever met.

Believe me. You do not, in psychosis, “know what you are doing”. That’s rather the crux of it.

I listened to the Red Handed podcast on this today and I feel so sorry for this poor woman and her family.

She reached out again and again to get help because she was seriously mentally ill and had broken from reality. She hadnt slept properly in weeks and was on a cocktail of drugs which were making her symptoms worse, not better. Her husband begged for help. The family begged for help.

The medical system let that family down. They should be held responsible and hopefully the civil cases being brought will shine a light on this illness and prevent it happening in future.

In my opinion, her and her family have suffered enough. I hope they don't bring the case to trial again and that lone juror assbag who held out and went against court directions can sleep well in his bed tonight. Assbag.

Well I guess that's easier to come to terms with than the idea that the woman you loved was a monster, who actually planned a way to get you out of the house so she could murder your children!

Hasn't she also said she wants to do marathons in her wheelchair and be an 'advocate' for post partum mental health?

Can you imagine the introduction on a podcast or a TV show - 'today, we're going to be talking to Lindsay Clancy, who strangled her 3 small children to death, about post partum mental health, welcome to the show Lindsay!'.

She was also apparently concerned about not being able to walk again.

She searched online for 'psychosis' before the murders and if she really was in it, she wouldn't have consciously been aware so why look it up?

Considering her 'psychotic' episode ended when she murdered her children, she seems quite keen to continue with her life. She may only be detained in a MH facility for a few years.

I think Tania Clarence is probably long out now, as she was granted licence to go home just a few months after being sentenced to a hospital order after murdering her 3 disabled children. God knows how her surviving daughter feels about that now she's old enough to understand what her mother did and that she may only be alive because she was away with her father. Can you imagine?

This is my thoughts too. Had she been out of work or worked in a low skilled role, was single, lived in a trailer park, was a woman of colour/latino I bet the outpouring of pitty would be somewhat drier…