Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel so very sorry for Hans rowsling

90 replies

TheEnthusiasticTroll · 02/08/2012 01:47

and think he should not be sent to jail.

thats it really, I can empathise and sympathise with him and not sure a jail scentance is going to make any difference to the supposed crime or his rehabilitation.

Im pretty sure he has suffered enough.

OP posts:
Peevish · 02/08/2012 16:06

For me, the primary difference is that someone that rich doesn't have to turn to crime to fund a major drug addiction, which allowed him and his wife to avoid lots of the situations in which addicts often find themselves - crime, prostitution etc.

Also, no ordinary addict is going to try to take a huge stash of cocaine into the US embassy, as his wife once did - wouldn't someone with fewer financial resources and social connections have been likely to be jailed for that?

Mintyy · 02/08/2012 16:10

How can you not feel sorry for him? You must have a heart of stone. Do you think anyone would choose that sort of a life? Being addicted to anything is an horrific experience.

diddl · 02/08/2012 16:19

"Do you think anyone would choose that sort of a life? "

But when you start taking drugs you surely risk becoming addicted-so isn´t that choosing it?

Olympia2012 · 02/08/2012 16:23

I think as they had money readily available they were able to just quietly get on with it. Not like they had to steal and mug people to finance this habit was it?

nearlyuptheduff · 02/08/2012 16:24

Sorry, I don't feel sorry for this guy.

He left his dead wife in the house... she was covered in bin bags and clothes according to the press.

The only reason he was unable to deal with that situation was because he was out of his nut on a concoction of class A drugs.

The guy is a lunatic and should be locked up for a long time.

Driving under the influence of drugs too... what would we all be saying about him if he had killed a member of our family while he was doing that?!

You make a choice to take drugs and you can make a choice to stop taking drugs.

diddl · 02/08/2012 16:36

"The man hid his wife's body for 2 months as he didn't want to let her go - I would say that's a pretty good indication that he was not mentally well"

but that could have been him not thinking clearly as a result of his drug addiction.

EldritchCleavage · 02/08/2012 16:44

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Original poster
TheEnthusiasticTroll · 02/08/2012 22:07

if he was a council house junkie would you feel so sympathetic?

I certainly would and thats why I posted really, I once had experience of supporting a woman who concealed her fathers body. She did really fit into the umberala for any diagnosable learning disabilities or mental health problems after the discovery and police had an assesment carried out. They where very sympathetic and treated her as a vulnerable adult, a very broad term the police use. there where no charges brought against her and Adult services becam involved and she recived alot of support.

however on reading and further news coverage I gather his suspended scentance is for driving offence and rehab is a condition of this? is that correct? so he has not be scentenced for the actual consealing of her body.

OP posts:
Original poster
TheEnthusiasticTroll · 02/08/2012 22:08

typo, sorry... she did not fit into any diagnosable criteria.

OP posts:
bisjolympics · 02/08/2012 22:11

I don't have that much sympathy for him. He is the father of four young children who have lost their mother. I hope someone is loving and caring for them.

flyoverthehill · 03/08/2012 11:32

pacific, he did do something, he hid her body in bin bags and tied it up with gaffer tape. They can't establish how she died due to decompostion, and remember it was actually hot at the end of may. Smell must have been horific. Its their poor kids I feel sorry for.

Olympia2012 · 03/08/2012 11:43

The children haven't lived there for some time now... Years. They were not there to smell the decomposition

The staff were though.

And bin bags and gaffer tape? For a 'much loved wife'? Sounds like he had more to hide than a body

Dawndonna · 03/08/2012 11:46

You make a choice to take drugs and you can make a choice to stop taking drugs
Wrong. I have looked after someone who unwittingly became an addict.
Others may feel they have no choices, so turn to drugs, and whilst you can make a choice to stop taking drugs, there are times when both mind and body will not allow that choice. So, bit harsh, eh?

If you have that many fantastic opportunities in life and still choose to start with the hard drugs and end up a wreck then you deserve no sympathy at all Bitter? Jealous? Sounds like it. Certainly not a fair comment. You have no idea about his life, just because lots of money was involved, doesn't mean there was no abuse, physical or emotional. He had mental health problems, could happen to anyone, regardless of income.

Olympia2012 · 03/08/2012 11:48

Which mental health problems did he have?

Dawndonna · 03/08/2012 12:08

It has been stated that he has a severe social anxiety disorder.

Dawndonna · 03/08/2012 12:14

There is also the fact that he was bailed to a mental health unit.

Olympia2012 · 03/08/2012 12:33

Yeah. Mental health unit that let him out to go shopping a few days ago! Shopping for what??!

Where was this social anxiety disorder then?

His millions and he can't get someone to do his normal everyday 'shopping' for him? Or was it not that kind of shopping?

diddl · 03/08/2012 14:06

I thought that he was in rehab?

Dawndonna · 03/08/2012 14:21

He's in a mental health unit. When my dh is in a mental health unit, occasionally I take him shopping, should that not be allowed?

diddl · 03/08/2012 14:28

Has he committed a criminal offence?

ImperialBlether · 03/08/2012 14:30

His sentence was suspended. He has to be an inpatient at rehab for two years.

I hadn't heard her parents were present when she was found - the police stopped him for driving erratically (he was reported) and his wife's papers were on the back seat. They then went to the house and found her. I wouldn't have thought there would be time to fetch her parents - and why? She was middle aged.

I thought it was incredibly sad that her children hadn't been in touch in all that time, or rather that they then hadn't thought it odd that she didn't speak to them.

Her sister came over from America and was convinced she was in the bedroom - banged and banged on the door (apparently the staff were told not to let anyone into the suite) and then went home. I would have knocked the door down if I thought my sister was in that state and refusing to answer the door.

It's a really tragic case, I think. Just goes to show money can't buy you happiness.

Olympia2012 · 03/08/2012 14:34

No I don't think he should be allowed out for 'shopping'

Drugs are too readily available

FizzyLaces · 03/08/2012 14:35

I think he has suffered enough. Why waste a jail space on someone who poses no threat to the outside world? Those poor peoples' families ripped apart by addiction and mental health problems. Just shows money doesn't make youu happy. A cautionary tale for us all.

FizzyLaces · 03/08/2012 14:36

x post imperial. Be careful what you wish for, eh?

ImperialBlether · 03/08/2012 14:42

I think what was particularly sad was that she seemed so lovely. Every photo is of her with a really cheerful grin and everyone said how lovely she was. It's so incredibly sad to think of someone being eaten up by addiction.