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

She had warning signs. If I had thoughts of harming my daughter I’d stay as far away as possible. I wouldn’t need someone else to tell me that. Where could she go? Hmmm literally anywhere away from her children until her condition was stable. Even if that takes a year or so.

She should still be criminally responsible for the crime of killing her kids. If we are to excuse murder because someone might not have known it was wrong given their state of mind, couldn't everyone claim they were psychotic and literally get away with murder?

No. The way your rational mind is right now, you think you would leave.

If you were suffering immensely, AND you were being told by professionals that this medication would help, AND you believed your kids would suffer if you weren't there, then you have no idea what you'd do.

Maybe she wasn't taken seriously if she denied suicidal thoughts, changed doctors, didn't take meds, told everyone she was feeling better. I don't think she told any health workers she had thoughts on harming her children according to the prosecution final closing argument.

Are you trying to blame Patrick for going out on an errand and leaving her alone with the children for 40 minutes? I really hope not as he testified that he was never told that he could not leave her alone with the children because she was a) not diagnosed by any of the psychiatrists she saw as having post partum psychosis and b) was not deemed to be a danger to them.

It sounds like you are trying to frame LC as the victim of her wealthy, white and middle class status... She did not take her medication as prescribed, she was never diagnosed with PPP, she never heard a voice until the convenient time frame when Patrick was out of the house, the voice did not tell her what to do, what method to use to kill the children, the order of death, the means of death. None, nada. She held onto those exercise bands until she took the life out of her children. The last thing those sweet children saw was their own mother strangling them. It is pure horror.

On the anniversaries of their deaths and their birthdays she was observed in Tewkesbury as being absolutely fine and dandy. Six months after my brother died to the day I was in absolute bits. Do you not find this strange? If you were in psychosis you would wake up in absolute horror, she did not did she? She asked if she needed a lawyer.

Wake up will you, the mental gymnastics in play to retrospectively diagnose her with PPP, like some form of barrack room collective of psychiatrists, is sickening.

My perspective is not misogynist: ie focused solely on the children and PC to the exclusion of the woman at the centre of the tragedy. In fact I’d include the wider family and grandparents.

If you have a problem with Europeans discussing an American case you’re free to report the thread.

You have a lot to complain about women I wonder why that is. If you simply don’t like them, this may not be the forum for you.

(Not clear what the ‘it is convenient’ para refers to)

Mountain of evidence? What an absolute joke. You have fallen for this woman's lies hook, line and sinker.

If we are to accept at a societal and legislative level that a certain state of mind voids you of your criminal responsibility, we must accept that that can apply even in the most deplorable and devastating circumstances.

I am satisfied having seen the evidence in this trial that there is reasonable doubt around her criminal responsibility. It is undeniable to me that she was very, very poorly.

I think her actions were pure evil, but I don’t think she is criminally responsible for them.

As an aside, if it is true and provable that the hold out juror admitted he had reasonable doubt but refused to return a not guilty verdict in spite of his instruction, I think he should have been removed from the jury at best and prosecuted at worst.

According to this article, Patrick told the court of his former wife’s statement and said she told him she had no plans to hurt the kids.

It came down to her saying something but her then denying she had any plans - they would not section her unless she had plans. You need to listen to the testimony, this came out in evidence several times.

Jurors have heard testimony from Patrick that his wife told him after the killings, while in hospital, that she’d “heard a man’s voice telling her that if she didn’t do it now, she would lose her chance, or something like that”.

She heard a man's voice telling her she would lose her chance and she then took it upon herself to strangle those precious babies to death with individual exercise bands holding them to choke the life out of them. She needs to be locked up for life.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/17/lindsay-clancy-trial-mother-witness-testimony

I find it odd she didn’t kill herself. The cuts on her throat were so superficial they didn’t even need stitches, the wrist ones did, but were far from going to be fatal and the windo she jumped from also not likely to be fatal

in my view anyone who murders is mentally unwell. But does that always mean no criminal responsibility, no.

both things can be true, she can be mentally unwell and also plan to kill ner kids and know it’s wrong. I beleive that to be the case and the failed suicide attempt a useful way to back up her insanity alibi.

do I think she had no idea what she was doing, wasn’t in control no.i think she knew, she planned it,she gave her self a justification. But she was also very unwell.

as said, these two things can be true.

Was the feeling there that she said it but dipped in and out of being in a bad way?

So on the day it was meant to be a ‘good day’ with snow man building etc.

Idk hard to know, maybe sectioning is appropriate. Is everyone with similar thoughts sectioned here? Or other help instead.

Why did her mother not report it?
What if he reported it, she is sectioned, and then let out because she denies any plans?
What if she then killed them?

This would not have saved them would it? Because ultimately they will not hold her if she denies any plans of self harm or harm to others, which is what was testified to. So we are back at square one aren't we

Stop making these outlandish speculative leaps to defend a child killer.

People Do claim it, but if there is no evidence of these claims prior to the incident then it is often disingenuous.

This case has the opposite clearly.

Actually the issue is not whether she was psychotic, it’s whether she was too unwell to appreciate the criminality or wrongfulness of her conduct, OR to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law.

Yes, I agree. I am using psychotic to mean psychotic enough to not appreciate the criminality or wrongfulness of her conduct, OR to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law as I believe is everyone else in this conversation.

it is convenient that you exclude ‘killing your children’ on the list of acceptable behaviour or evidence of a mentally unwell woman achieving 1 or 2 above, when it is that action that precisely determines just how unwell she was. That and her own suicide attempt of course.

It’s not a matter of convenience. It’s that people seem to be saying (and you are doing the same) that murdering her children is evidence enough of psychosis. Unless we are going to say that any mother who kills her child is in psychosis without any further evidence being required (which I would be surprised if people would agree with but perhaps that it what people think?) it is not reasonable to accept this as the only evidence. It is a completely circular argument and assumes no mother could ever murder her child unless in psychosis. Do you believe that to be the case?

I don’t accept that a suicide attempt is in itself evidence of psychosis. People attempt suicide for many reasons outside of psychosis.

reminding that she did report thoughts of self harm and causing harm to the children, which everyone brushed off. They didn’t believe she was capable of anything so bad. Because they didn’t understand her condition.

Again, people self harm and hurt others and have thoughts of doing so for other reasons than psychosis.

Idk it’s hard to imagine but I’d probably tell people I live (ie my own family) to get advice on what to do next.

Perhaps I’m more wary of men hurting families because it’s more frequent too.

It doesn't matter whether or not she thinks it's wrong. Murder is wrong. End off. A lot of folk commit serious crimes and don't think they're doing anything wrong. Is that the new bar. Terrifying.

I am responding to your disgusting and unedifying attempts to place the blame on Patrick and to clarify that, even if he did report it, she had denied to Jennifer Tufts, her psychiatrist, having a plan to take her own life or harm anyone else and never revealed that she had thoughts about harming the children.

Jennifer Tufts also testified that LC never told her about manic episodes, nor about hearing voices or having other signs of psychosis.
She felt close to feeling suicidal, hopeless or like she was going to die.

None of this would rise to the level of a section even if PC had reported it - or her mother whom testifed that she had reported thoughts of harming the children. Stop victim blaming and if you are going to victim blame, do it to her mother as well as Patrick Clancy who lost his entire family.