To think this woman needs counselling, not jail

[SamanthaBrique]

It's a horrific story, her father abused her for years before she snapped and killed him.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/11/manchester-woman-barbara-coombes-admits-killing-her-father

Why not both?

I think that's the case for the vast majority of people in our jails. It's not a popular view though.

I agree that she needs counsel but I also think a custodial sentence is appropriate. You just can’t have a legal system that allows murder to go unpunished if the perpetrator claims to be abused when the abuser is no longer able to be questioned. Setting that precedent would be unwise. I’m not saying I don’t believe her but without any evidence at all to support her claims of course she needs to be jailed.

YADNBU..
Has this poor women not suffered enough abused sexually from when she was a tiny child. I don't think anyone can hurt her any more can they.
The women's a hero in my book. Ridding us a disgusting fucking twaiting cunting predatory beast. I have no qualms guilt or issues about saying that either.

It’s not just the murder either, it’s the fraud and deceit that went on for over a decade.

To some extent she probably does need a custodial sentence because she did murder him but I 100% agree she needs counselling after everything she's been through. I honestly don't blame her for one day snapping and killing him & if he can do that to his daughter then it's well deserved imo and well rid of a disgusting waste of space. Hopefully this lady can find some peace/relief now that he's dead. A few years in jail is probably worth it to get after the years of abuse she had to endure at the hands of her own father! It's honestly a horrible world sometimes.

Her poor mind must be in an infinate turmoil.

I don't disagree that she needs some kind of sentence but 9 years seems excessive as she's already in her 60s and not exactly a threat to society. I guess with good behaviour she may not serve the full term.

Was there evidence of her being sexually abused?

Both. She will only serve four and a half years. Sounds like her reasons for the killing were accepted by the judge, but he didn't accept she acted in self-defence - which sounds totally correct in a legal sense but I would agree that in a philosophical sense that's what it was.

Also it's not as though she confessed immediately or guilt got the better of her, she confessed when she thought she might be found out. So there is that element too.

There needed to be a custodial sentence when somebody was murdered, thousands fraudulently claimed and the murder hidden for so long. There's no way a judge could have not ordered it.

Cross posted, I meant both counselling and a custodial term, if that wasn't clear.

There must have been evidence of the abuse, the judge accepted a plea of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

This is the same woman who then went on to defraud the benefits system isn't it? She clearly isn't mentally well but I don't think that excuses killing someone and then covering it up (let alone using it to commit fraud). Surely a case of needing both.

This woman lived near me and I knew her, her father and her daughter.
There's a lot that hasn't been said in the media.

If she had called the police immediately rather than concealed the killing and committed fraud on top I would assume her sentence would have been substantially less.

Did this lady live with her father and her daughter? I feel for her and for her daughter. It's just a little confusing.

If there’s not proof of the abuse, if there’s no records of her asking for help, no attempts to leave him why should people believe her? She didn’t admit it for years afterwards and still claimed his benefits. If she felt she had nothing to lose why not go to the police to report the abuse and the images she found etc

I am sorry she does desvire jail time for what she has done she took a life (yes she snapped and killed him but he is not around to defend himself, the correct course of action was to go to the police) Murder is never right and if we allow people to kill people and claim sexaully abuse / DV so they get no punishment there WILL be more murders.

No one on here would like if a male murderer was abused by his mum / wife 'snapped' and killed his abuser he would be in prison and if he did not get a lengthy sentence there would be outcry.

Being abused does not and should not give you a free pass to commit crimes especially one as bad as murder.

The benefit fraud went with concealing the death - I suppose stating that he had died would have opened up awkward enquiries.

As a pp has said, there is probably a lot more which hasn't been reported.

I think she deserves both. She never showed any concern to what she did was wrong. Add to that the £189,000 she fraudulently claimed in benefits, carers allowance didn’t help her cause. Apparently she only began to mention the abuse 4 months after her arrest.

Was there evidence of her being sexually abused?

there are photographs .. of her as young as 6 years old

Personally.... I'd let her walk free...

Yes #Jakethekid - she moved back in with her father with her young daughter after she got divorced.
This is something many of us don't understand - why did she move herself and more importantly her child back there?
Personally, they ALL seemed nice people if a little odd and there are many, many unanswered questions which nobody will ever know - it's B's daughter I really feel sorry for.

cammie without going into much detail, does you knowledge give you more sympathy and understanding to why she did it? Or the opposite?