Victim and abuser are often two sides of the same coin. Victims often gravitate to abusers and vice versa.
I see Mairead as both a victim in her life and a perpetrator. A poor helpless soul, and a callous self-serving manipulative person. Just as my parents were victims and helpless in their childhoods and went on to become abusive and self-serving during my childhood. What do I feel? Anger or pity? Take your pick, it makes no difference.
Does this excuse her? If we look at it from an emotional standpoint, no. 'I hope the woman rots' is what I feel. But if we look at it from a wholly emotionless standpoint then it is a reason. 'I hope we can learn from this' is what I think.
Sometimes I think it is pointless being outraged at people such as Mairead and Mick Philpott and brand them 'evil' (which is a totally unquantifiable notion) . They will do what they do because they lack the emotional capacity (note, this is not the same as legal capacity) to feel the normal level of love and empathy for their children. It just isn't there. There's a hole in them and no amount of appealing to their 'better nature' will help. This is their nature. Grubby, sordid, grasping, manipulative as well as distressing, painful and sad. You can scream at Mairead, you can call her wicked, request her hanging, but you are screaming into a void.
People struggle to comprehend that parents, and mothers in particular, are capable of really not loving their children in the same way that they do, if at all. But your rage will never reach them or affect them because they lack the emotional capacity to care.
Ultimately we need more services/provision/deterrents in place to intervene with people like them before such horrors occur. My outrage is reserved for the systems (be that the judiciary or ss) who failed at every step of the way to protect those children and continue daily to fail to protect children.