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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be annoyed with myself for defending them

83 replies

smoggii · 30/05/2012 22:16

my family had a discussion last week basically ripping the Philpots to shreds really more about them courting publicity and the usual comments of the DM reader about benefit scroungers etc.

I jumped in with a 'they are clearly devastated and it doesn't matter which walk of life you're from you love your kids and everything else is irrelevant when you have endured such tragedy'

Don't I feel a bit silly?

I just can't get my head around it. I know they haven't been found guilty but to be charged means that the police are satisfied that they (at the very least) can make a case against them and the CPS believe there is enough evidence.

OP posts:
WorraLiberty · 30/05/2012 22:43

Sometimes if someone admits to a crime they drop the charge down to manslaughter.

Like some sort of bargaining tool I suppose

hiveofbees · 30/05/2012 22:43

They have been charged.

TheHouseOnTheCorner · 30/05/2012 22:44

They might have thought they could get the kids out if they're not very bright thisisyesterday and Im not being mean...if they don't have very high IQs then it's possible they thought they could manage it. Sad

Silly to try and guess anyway.

OliverCromwellLivesOn · 30/05/2012 22:44

Popp and others - most people really aren't good. They are weak and suggestible at best, self serving and conscience less at worst. Am keeping an open mind about this case however

Chubfuddler · 30/05/2012 22:45

They have been charged with six counts of murder.

thisisyesterday · 30/05/2012 22:45

yes, no-one knows what went on i suppose, except them.

just awful though, the whole thing. makes me so sad :(

bobbledunk · 30/05/2012 22:47

They haven't been convicted of anything yet, they may be innocent.

lalaland3008 · 30/05/2012 22:47

Oh ok, the charges must have been recent, like today?

squeakytoy · 30/05/2012 22:47

I feel so sorry for the kids who survived. Losing half their sibling, AND effectively losing their parents now too, because how could you start to forgive them for this.

WorraLiberty · 30/05/2012 22:52

True Squeaky so many lives ruined

QueenElizaBeatHer · 30/05/2012 22:58

lalaland I think it's been in the news in the last few hours.

TheCrackFox · 30/05/2012 23:06

OliverCromwellLivesOn - I really don't buy into your assessment of human nature. I really believe that most people really try their best in life and do have a conscience.

Obviously, it goes without saying, that I do not include Carol Malone in my above summing up of human nature.

Olympia2012 · 30/05/2012 23:12

The accelerant through the door.... Surely whoever did that is the killer... Both of them? Maybe they have confessed

Rabbitee · 30/05/2012 23:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Rabbitee · 30/05/2012 23:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

hiveofbees · 30/05/2012 23:22

If they did it on purpose then I dont think you could jump to conclusions about how guilty they would be feeling.

Olympia2012 · 30/05/2012 23:24

Let's see where they get detained tomorrow... Prison or hospital..

Portofino · 30/05/2012 23:29

Presumably you know all the details of the case/charges Hmm

cricketballs · 30/05/2012 23:40

charges for causing death normally start out as murder, it is usually up to the jury to decide whether the death was intended (murder) or that death was not intended but was the result (manslaughter) if I remember my A level law on mens rea correctly!

MrsTerryPratchett · 31/05/2012 02:59

I just seem to get my head around the idea that a parent would willingly risk that level of pain on their children. Even ill people who kill their children because they believe the children would be better off, I can think about why they think that. But knowing your children might burn to death... horrible. It makes me think it can't possibly have been them.

LittlebearH · 31/05/2012 03:24

I am hoping they are released without charge. I cannot understand how they would do such a thing. I am sick of reading the news ATM. Kids seem to be dying all over the place. I cannot bear it.

OhNoMyFanjo · 31/05/2012 04:09

Theyve been charged? Sad this is so hard for me to get my head around. I just can't believe that anyone would think there was no chance of it getting out of hand and doneone getting hurt.

EatsBrainsAndLeaves · 31/05/2012 07:36

YANBU to assume this was a terrible situation of a family being unfairly targetted.

I did wonder though about the ladder. There was a wooden ladder placed against the wall that didn't reach up to the bedroom window. They had managed I think, to get it there before the fire brigade arrived. It took 4 minutes for the fire brigade to get there from the call. It would usually take longer than that to get a ladder out and propped up.

I did wonder if they set it and had thought they could get the kids out via the ladder and only discovered at the last minute that it wouldn't reach. But it seemed mean to think this, so I didn't say it to anyone. I wish the parents weren't involved. But I doubt they actually meant to murder the children.

I suspect they wanted a bigger house or it was an insurance scam and they were not bright enough to pull it off without killing their children. Very very sad.

HRH2shoesofMn · 31/05/2012 07:42

yanbu as they hav't been found guilty yet

Olympia2012 · 31/05/2012 08:05

Police must have a strong case and cps must think they will get a conviction, otherwise they wouldn't be charged