to not mind a bit that the woman who murdered her 3 children...

[vinegarpuss]

is being targeted by other prisoners.

(Pulling on my hard hat and waiting with trepidation)

LeQueen - are you insinuating that this poor woman didn't love her children?? From all accounts that is certainly not the case. I'm sure there are women like those that you've described but SHAME on you for discussing a woman who you really don't know at all.

some awful opinions on here

I think the woman should be kept safe in prison and if necessary kept in solitory to stop other prisoners from beating the crap out of her. Maybe one day remorse will hit her and her life will be a living hell without anyone breaking the law.

16 years is woefully inadequate as a sentence. Its understandable if prisoners want to take matters into their own hands. I don't think I would cope living with a child murderer who showed no signs of remorse. We need a proper judicatory to set proper sentences which fit the crime.

Do we actually know for sure that this woman is mentally ill?

If so, why is the woman not in a secure hospital rather than prison, and why is she allowed to mix with other prisoners? If she has been found mentally ill she would normally be placed in an institution where she would be less vunerable.

She has been found guilty of a terrible crime. She should do her time. Prison is not a pleasant place and it will not be an easy ride ime.

I do not agree with her being sought out and assaulted by other prisoners however. I don't agree that other prisoners should be dishing out their own form of punishments/justice.

reallytired - normally that is what does happen in prison if an offender is being targetted by other offenders. They will be placed in a more secure area within the prison, possibly have their movements done at other times, possibly make use og a segregation or hospital wing.

She was convicted on grounds of diminished responsibility. That would mean she was mentally imbalanced in some way, albeit, perhaps temporarily.
Some views on here disgust me. She has been punished and whether or not you think the sentence is long enough, the fact is it has been done according to the law. The law should also protect her from harm whilst she is in custody.
Unless you are in her situation, you have no right to judge.

reallytired... Why should the other prisoners have the right to do that and why aren't people disgusted that there seems to be 'acceptable and unacceptable' serious crimes, giving rise to the sense of entitlement of one to think they have 'authorisation' and the 'right' to punish anybody themselves?

There's something very wrong with our penal system.

Diminished responsibility doesn't mean that she was mentally ill.
If she had been found ill she should be in a secure hospital, not held in the normal prison population.

That woman is in a hell of her own making.

The assaults on her are wrong and make me feel sad.

And ime the prisoners who do carry out this kind of vigilante behaviour are not doing it for moral goodness. Infact, generally they are not doing it for that reason whatsoever!

I have seen it happen regularly within male prisons and the one doing the assualting is not usally a moral, ethical person trying to hand out justice! Oh no!!!

@LWITW... there's something very wrong with the posters on this thread that they aren't more disgusted at prisoners taking it upon themselves to attack other prisoners. Remember poor old Sally Clark, wrongly convicted of killing her children? She was attacked and her sad life made even more of a misery in prison - experiences which eventually led to her death. Presumably our nasty, vindictive little OP thought that was perfectly acceptable at the time....

The other prisoners are reacting to this woman with violence because of the fear. If a woman can kill her children it holds a mirror up to all by showing that not everyone can put their childs life before their own. It strikes the fear of god into any parent that their child will be murdered by a stranger but for a parent to do it sets off something else, it suggests that it's possible to thwart the natural instinct to ensure your offspring survive you. That would scare anyone nevermind a mother. I'm not excusing the other prisOners behaviour just trying to say what might be driving it.

All well and good having faith in the justice system etc but the system doesn't stop human feelings no matter how much it wants to control them.

Think you are quite right Hecate. Society finds it difficult to accept women committing so called serious crimes. Thats why there are so few female prisons compared to male, and why most female prisoners have been convicted of petty crimes.

LyingWitch, I'm guessing you don't work in the prison service, nor have ever been convicted of anything? So I'm assuming, correct me if I'm wrong, that your opinion of the prison service is based on articles you've read? I do work in the prison service. I take great umbrage in hearing it be referred to as "a joke". It IS hard and it IS tough for inmates, but the aim of the prison service is also to rehabilitate and break cycles of crime that were not caused by the justice system.

Vinegarpuss, she did get life. Murder carries an automatic life sentence. The 16 years refers to her tarriff. Even when she is released she will still serve her sentence by being known to and deal with the probation service. There will be licence conditions and strict rules for her to follow forever or she'll be back inside. Do you know how common it is for lifers to go over tarriff?

I do mind that this woman is being targetted by other inmates, but she's a child killer. Amongst 99% of other prisoners, that makes her only slightly higher up than a paedophile. It will anger many non-criminals to know that she will likely be segregated for her own safety, which I believe is right. We have a justice system, not a vengance system and justice has been meeted out. She committed a crime and has now been punished for it. Anything beyond that or in addition to that is cold revenge, which is very different.

(Apologies for the length of this post; internet connection is shaky at the moment so I wanted to try to answer everything in one go in case I can't get back online)

She was sent to jail not to Broadmoor. The view of a judge is that the woman deserved to be punished. I imagine there have been extensive pychatric reports before the decision was made whether to send the woman to a secure unit or prison. Being mentally ill doesn't excuse every crime. Each case is considered on an individual basis. Murdering young children to get back at the ex is a dispictable thing to do.

We all have the right to our opinons on sentencing. I can understand the anger of the prisoners seeing a triple child murderer being let off so lightly. I imagine it must cause resentment if someone is inside for almost as long for a less henious crime.

I do not thinik the woman should be attacked in custody.

grumlinalong - with all due respect, that is a load of crap!

They do it because they enjoy violence.

And ime the prisoners who do carry out this kind of vigilante behaviour are not doing it for moral goodness.

Honestly, ime, they just don't!

pictish - that is much more likely, yes.

Cogita -the Sally Clark case must be one of the most unbelievably heartbreaking nightmare cases of our times. I bet there were Mumsnetters calling for her blood at the time too.

I think the woman actually tried and failed to kill herself too, so now she has to live with it, that's a better punishment than any judge can dish out.

....but she's a child killer. Amongst 99% of other prisoners, that makes her only slightly higher up than a paedophile....

Littlewhitewolf without building a hierarchy of crime, are you serious?? Better dead than abused??

The difference is that Sally Clarke was innocent. Theresa Riggi is not.

No prisoner deserves to be subjected to physical violence. Other than solitary for the rest of her sentence I can't see what can be done.

She is always going to be a target due to the horrific nature of her crime.

Having watched a docu filmed in Cornton Vale I wouldn't want to spend 10 mins in there for any reason.

The person who I feel for in all this is the childrens father. Cannot even begin to imagine.

How does the fact that she or anyone else has been found guilty make it ok to judge?
Not just this case but any. None of us know what goes on behind closed doors and what drives some people to do the things they do. Yes I'm sure some people are just downright evil at times but others are not yet still do things that the rest of us find reprehensible. None of us have walked a mile in other peoples shoes.

I'm in no way saying that killing your children is right in any circumstance but honestly some of the things on here are disgraceful.
How do you, me or anyone else know it was as cut and dried as getting back at her ex? I find it funny that when there are threads on ss taking babies away from parents for no apparent reason everyone starts shouting about not believing everything we read in the papers there are 2 sides to every story but for this everyone is happy to be judge, jury and executioner.

And I have seen the very real after effects of what this particular woman has done and have seen the genuine tears shed of the people who did know her and I still don't think it was all that black and white.