Scarlett Keeling

[lemonstartree]

Anyone else give a litle gasp of horror when it was revealed that Scarlett was left by her mother, for 'several weeks' in Goa whilst mum went off with her new boyfriend and 5 of her 8 children ????

Am amazed no one else has posted this given the outcry wrt the McCanns!

couldn't agree more with expat

and spicemonster, your post saying -
"And blaming her for Scarlett's murder is like blaming a woman for getting raped for wearing a short skirt IMO" is so far off the mark I find it amazing. this was a young girl left on her own with a "friend" to look after her whilst her mother did her own thing, nothing at all like wearing a short skirt

The short skirt analogy is totally off the mark. A better parallel would be letting your child play next to a motorway, thus paving the way for a drunk driver to mow them down. tragedy waiting to happen. Which does not excuse the rapist or the drunk driver of course, but why take such an unreasonable risk ? Letting your child go on a sleepover in the UK where yes you have maybe met the parents a few times, have exchanged phone numbers etc and arranged transport is surely a reasonaBLE not an unreasonable risk. Letting your 15 year old stay for weeks on end in a foreign country with a known recent history of brutal attacks/murders of holiday makers with a young guy of 22 you've met on the beach fgs is in my book completely bonkers.

But at the end of the day that poor girl died a terrifying death, which is what now needs to be focussed on.

The lifestyle described in the toothsucking fingerpointing "ooh benefit scroungers: bring back hanging!" DM actually sounds rather good to me, even if the caravans aren't pristine.

The mother is guilty of being trusting, naive and alternative as far as I can see - not something I'm particularly inclined to stone her for.

"And plenty who ditch their kids here in the UK with whomever will take them so they can have that all-important me time."

but she didn't "ditch" her so she could have "me time" - she took 6 of her other kids with her!

she left her child with a history of drug use with people they barely knew in a foreign country.

her 15-year-old child.

If my understanding is correct they'd been there for 3 months (went in November). 3 months around the same people on a daily basis is probably a lot more time in total than most parents spend with each other at the school gates here in the UK in an entire school year........yet at 15 many are allowed to go and have sleepover's at their house.....

As yet I've seen nothing to indicate what her "history of drug taking" involved....but my first reaction is that by 15 (sadly) many teenagers have dabbled with cannabis and that would give them the same tagline....

it worries me that so many of you think its acceptable to do what this mother did

I don't understand it at all

chelsygirl - there is a huge difference between thinking what Mrs MacKeown did was a good idea and thinking she should be verbally stoned on line.

Here are a few facts for you from the Independent:
'Mrs MacKeown took Scarlett to India last November as part of a family trip and they had spent many weeks at the resort, which is popular with backpackers. At the time of her death, Mrs MacKeown and her boyfriend were away from Anjuna and had left the teenager in the care of a local tour guide called Julio and his aunt. She said she believed her daughter and Julio were simply friends but having read her diary following her death she now knows they were having a sexual relationship.

Mrs MacKeown says she is aware many people will be critical of her decision to leave her daughter when she travelled out of state. "We felt we had got to know these people," she said. "We had been to their house and had dinner with the aunt. She was a strict Roman Catholic."

What if Scarlett had been 18? Would you still be blaming her mum?

how does that make it okay to leave a kid that age and goe hundreds of miles away, FAQ, in a foreign country where you have no family?

get real!

that's irrelevant, spicemonster.

she was FIFTEEN, not eighteen.

she was a minor.

that's the difference.

I don't believe it is expat. Do you think her rapist asked her age?

My sister used to climb out of the bedroom window when we went on family holidays. Luckily nothing happened to her but you can be the best parent in the world and shit can still happen.

What are you going to do - lock your daughters up until they're 45?

Spicemonster her own mother knew her age and still left her; the rapist saw an opportunity and took it.

Mrspanic - you don't know that any more than I do. If her mum had been there and been a mum like my mum was and insisted Scarlett went to bed at 11pm, she might have sneaked out into the night like my sister used to. As Melissa Benn said: Such is the raw terror of every parent that their child may one day come to harm, the safest option seems to be to focus on the unlucky families, particularly the mothers, for whom the worst has occurred. By finding fault in those to whom terrible things have already happened we vainly hope to keep evil from our own door.

My initial reaction to this was what was the mother thinking?! Looking back at my own (in my opinion) strictish upbringing I remember living in Africa and my parents letting me and my 15 yr old sister (I was 13 eek!) go out at night when we were on holiday. It was a backpacking hotspot with plenty of drugs etc. I may have to review my opinion on my childhood!

Not sure what you mean SM. It's not in doubt she left her teenage daughter is it ? And she wasn't put to bed at 11 with a parent in the building. Theorising about whether this would have happened regardless is pointless. We have to analyse the situation based on the facts which have actually occurred.

no, spice, but i'm certainly NOT going to leave them with relative strangers in foreign countries whilst i go hundreds of miles away.

no, spice, the poor girl was apparently high and drunk with no parent around for miles and miles and out at 4AM.

because teenage girls don't always use good judgement.

that's why they're minors until a certain age and need to be looked after by their parents as much as possible - or a legal guardian.

at least a trusted family member.

no need to sneak out when there's no risk of mum and dad hearing you because they're over a hundred miles away.

I'm worried that many here think it's OK to leave a teenager alone in a foreign place notorious for its drug scene.

spicemonster, you're away with the fairies

Yesterday's The Times quoting Scarlett's mother: "If Goa is so dangerous there should be signs warning up visitors".

Well shes got her comeuppance then is that what you are implying about the mother?
Serves her right for using bad judgement
I suspect that possibly just possibly her mother knows that already.

from what I have read, they have been in Goa since November (please feel free to correct me if I am wrong) and have eaten with this man and his family several times

her dd - being a stroppy 15yr old teenager, insisted she didn't want to go travelling with her mum and family and wanted to stay in Goa

after much hoohar, mother decided to leave her there IN THE CARE OF THIS MAN AND HIS FAMILY

so yes, maybe she was naive but she THOUGHT her dd would be fine.

Her dd said she would not go off on her own, as indeed I told my parents that, no of COURSE I wasn't out clubbing and YES of COURSE we got a taxi back, no way did we walk home because we had spent our money on booze etc etc

that poor mother

please dont judge

I'm 100% with expat on this.