50 ways to leave your lover. Get on the bus Gus, give a knife to your wife, Rob. How not to write helpful storylines masterclass from The Archers.

[PseudoBadger]

Poor poor Henry

I won't be listening. But I'll definitely catch up on the thread.

There has appeared a MN guest blog by a WA Survivor Ambassador.

It is very grim

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/guest_posts/2607008-Guest-post-Domestic-abuse-I-am-a-real-life-Helen-Warning-upsetting-content

Lightbulb moments that should occur:

Jenny/David - remember and re-open the culvert blocking investigation. Prove that the flood could have been averted and Freda saved.
Charlie/Justin - find Stefan and talk to him (or at least find Stefan)
Charlie/Justin - is Berrow Farm closed yet? Have they done the final accounts? Can they confirm that Rob was mis-managing the whole operation?
Adam/Ian - have that talk about the NYE kiss with Charlie and Rob's conversation with Ian before the wedding
Shula/Oliver/Harrison - confess that Shula lied.
Harrison - contact the Sab and re-open the investigation.
Tom - own up to Rob's involvement in his decision to go to Canada (only Helen knows if I remember correctly).
Someone/anyone - find another recording of R cheating at the cricket match
Tom (again) - remind everyone about the feed order and threat to Bridge Farm's organic status
Tom (again) - contact that chicken supplier!

if he's not dead soc will be all 'tricked you' smug but that's missing the point. The fact she resorted to violence - self defence or not - is not a great way to end this

I can't listen tonight, working, so will rely on reports on here. Maybe Kirsty will call Dr Locke.

plimsolls yes Jenny did appear to dislike him, especially with regard to his treatment of Jess, but like Pat she seems to have been won round to a degree.

did you hear Nigel Pascoe QC on the r4 news at lunchtime. He said it would be quite possible for Helen not to even be prosecuted as no public service/interest in doing so.

The trouble with that is that it rests on her being able to prove what has been going on. With even her mother believing that he's Wonderboy, that's a very big assumption to make.

One thing that this SL has perhaps forced us to face is the depressing issue of whether in reality the new law is ever going to be of much practical use, given that so much of this will come down to one person's word against another, and of necessity the victim's evidence is likely to be all over the place after years of abuse and gaslighting.

Jenny got the birth announcement from Jess too

Kenton isn't a fan. In fact Kenton, Tom & Roy (who else? Adam? Ian?) were all pretty uncomfortable around him on Tom's stag do, but Kenton got the worst of it.

This too big a thread to read all. I listened this morning. I had to keep pausing it in order to make more coffee. Them DM rang completely traumatised in Waitrose car park, having listened to the morning broadcast.

Rob was absolutely vile that night but they seem to have collective amnesia about it

there's quite a long post BTL on the NBS review linked to earlier explaining how (if he is dead) forensics would indicate a struggle, and lots of other evidence (such as Rob's plan to send Henry away, Jess's testimony, the calls made on the night) would all build a picture of self defence and Helen could get a conditional discharge

if he's not dead soc will be all 'tricked you' smug but that's missing the point.

Yyy. Him miraculously surviving does not change what happened.

That blog from the survivor is heart breaking.

sorry if i have missed bits of thread but listened again at lunchtime today..i think it will be made that rob was going for henry she grabs knife and stabs him to stop him hurting her child ...he turned round thats when we hear her say sorry and he said put the knife down helen..then there are sounds of tussle..i think we are meant to believe rob went for helen and in the intervening tussle she accidentally stabbed him.

we dont hear her effectively stabbing him over and over as was suggested much earlier up thread.

so she could claim self defence...one stab to stop him hurting henry and then it was accidental stab as he attacked her...

Knobs plan to send Henry away was only known to knob and ursula unless the defence lawyers do a lot of digging

Grauch that post makes heart-breaking reading. Beyond horrific. Which I think is why I, for one, feel like SOC has sacrificed a valuable and important piece of work in his quest to go out with a rating's bang. He's manipulated all of us, fooling us into believing that the storyline will educate and inform. What have we learned from it? I'm fed up with the patronising line that 'it can happen in nice middle class families as well'. Who doesn't already know that? What we needed was a clear-cut 'this is the route out' storyline for those who aren't aware of the different charities and support available.

My dad pointed out that although people are going in about the first murder in Ambridge, that Tom Forrest shot the poacher Bob Larkin in 1957 and stood trial for manslaughter.

Just caught up. Furious that the storyline could put the fear into women rather than showing a safe route out.

On the other hand may make many more people aware that someone saying they are fine doesn't mean they are fine - it could be a symptom that things are anything but. It's certainly made me less willing to take reassurances at face value.

I think Rob's plan to send Henry to Boarding School could be used as evidence to suggest that they couldn't trust Helen to look after him when Rob was at work (scalding, scaring, sleepwalking - Henry 'I hate you Mummy' etc).

I wonder how far Rob and Ursula got with the bs application and whether Henry's name/details are anywhere official with the school.

But the scalding, scaring, sleepwalking was mostly/all fictional, wasn't it?

The only real.evidence is:
Helen's testimony
Henry's testimony about what happened to Thomas rabbit. I don't think he'd be a good witness for either side though..too young and too big an incentive to say whatever he thinks people want to hear.
Jess's testimony.

And Kirsty witnessing Rob screaming at Hellin about the suitcase and also did he not threaten K at one point?
Possible bruising after rape - winessed by Tom?
Whoever it was who saw him treating her like a dog "sit down, Helen" in the shop.

Whether or not other people like him, or he threatened Charlie, killed Stephan, hit the sab or anything of these other events are irrelevant to H's defence. They don't relate to the offence in question.

Going against her - he has been stabbed.
She threatened to kill him.
Ursula's testimony.
No police reports by her.
No previous attempts to leave.
Numerous witnesses to flaky behaviour.
Jess is not a v good witness have publicly fallen out with him over the paternity.

Unknowns:
What psychiatrist would say.
If there is any evidence of him trying to send Henwee away.
If the moving on money into joint account is evidence.
If Helen sustained any injuries last night.
If he has any previous.

I don't think her defence looks very strong.

Scalding was fictional but Ursula managed to convince Pat and Tony. Helen knows she was sleepwalking and had no reason to believe that Rob lied about her scaring Henry. Rob told the school he was looking into sending Henry there because Helen was having difficulty coping at home. All evidence stacked up against her that she'll find difficult to refute given the clever groundwork he's laid against her.

The guest post linked above has been retweeted by the BBC

'I am a real-life Helen': @goldylonglocks writes for @MumsnetTowers about working with @BBCTheArchers mumsnet.com/Talk/guest_pos… #thearchers

Also going against her:

Pat's testimony - 'It's Rob, it's always Rob! I'll kill him'