Rob - dead? No, no, he's, er, resting. He's just pining for the Canadian plains. As Helen is taken into custardy, discuss the Archers here.

[PseudoBadger]

24 hours for 1 thread!!

I'm with you bigbuttons. Writers always write what suits their narrative and bend everything (including human nature, Law and the space/time continuum) to fit.

Is there any question that Rob was sexually abusing Henry? The bed wetting always made me wonder slightly.

I thought I heard the doc say that Helen needed to be body mapped which would document the marks.

Whilst soc might think he is very clever he has just done what everyone expected of him.

I think they would have had just as much press if she had escaped. Headlines of 'she's out' etc

Just stepping in with my professional child
psychology hat on milly bed wetting is a sign of many many things, some innocent some not. Sexual abuse is a big leap.

My tuppence ha'penny, for what it's worth. I think the Editor should back off from pushing the message now that this story is educating us about domestic abuse, and the recent law change. There's no evidence against Rob. Helen will, rightly, go to prison. Rob will die, and Ursula will take on the baby. Helen will disappear from the airwaves, maybe popping up from time to time like Debbie. SOK will return in another 19 years to claim his share of Bridge Farm. If it happens any other way, and the Ambridge Fairy gets Helen clean off the hook, then will abused women expect that they might have the same luck if they decide to go down the same route? Very irresponsible.

So. When's Clarrie going to make the heart-rending discovery that George stole her £20?

Pseudo If you're looking for a title for the next thread, the words that have been going round in my head over the last couple of days are

RHUBARB, RHUBARB, RHUBARB (PIE).......AND CUSTARDY.

"Is there any question that Rob was sexually abusing Henry? The bed wetting always made me wonder slightly."

I wouldn't put it past them. Because obviously seeing his mother being treated like shit and living in an emotionally abusive house wouldn't be enough to upset and damage him. "There has to be more to it than that, surely?"

Even more of a crap message to send women living the same experiences....

God I hope they don't go down that route. The bed wetting could be anything from a bout of constipation to Henry subconsciously picking up on the changed atmosphere on the home. The really isn't any need to make it more than that.

Unless Knob dies Helen cannot rely on diminshed responsibility as that is a defence only in homicide.

True, if he's dead no ambulance needed.
I think you still need to call an ambulance or at least dial 999 even if the death was from natural causes. You can't certify someone dead yourself.

LilianGish it's a successful insanity defence that gets the accused committed indefinitely to a secure institution, not diminished responsibility. They are legally distinct. However as clarified above by PP, DR only available for murder.

I recommend the Telegraph article, it explains the law and Helen's options extremely well.

No you can't but if my dh was to drop dead in front of me I would probably call my parents first!

Just thinking about how annoying Tom was with his 'oh, yes, I sort of noticed too'. Well then why didn't he say anything?! It's clear why Kirsty felt she really couldn't talk to them, but Tom claims he saw that h was being pushed out of the family business and he never thought it would be a good idea to discuss that with the family?

no point place marking. by the time I get back it will be half way through another thread. I only listen after you lot have listened first.

Is Pseudo recovering from her birthday bash? She's going to need some more thread title suggestions soon. Ha, remember the days when it took a fortnight to fill a thread? [wistful]

DDD I've given her one ^^....(a thread title, that is)

Oh, you can get a hospital order on a diminished responsibility plea. Much more common than insanity, in fact, as the bar for proving insanity is extremely high (basically you have to have not know what you were doing), so insanity findings are rare.

And a very good one it is too!

But the actual disposal in a DR case is not reliant on the state of mind at the time of the offence, but at the time of sentencing. With manslaughter on the grounds of DR you can get a range of sentences, one of which is a hospital order. Prison, up to and including a life sentence is also possible.

So you have, Vango, and it works for me...

The article I linked to above explains the defences quite well I think and explains why it is much better for Helen's defence if Rob dies. Interestingly it says that diminished responsibility was invented for situations where the person wasn't truly insane but had huge provocation that caused them to snap. When the penalty for murder was death juries were reluctant to find the defendant guilty in these situations hence the invention of the defence.

It just shows how illogical and outdated our system of criminal law is.

Re Tom - whenever he mentioned things regarding rob to pat she would jump in and defend him so I can see why he may not discuss his concerns with her

I am surprised he hasn't had a few pints with Roy and complained about knob which would of course be fed back to Kirsty.

And also to be fair to Tom, he did try to talk to Helen about it and got her usual brush off that everything was fine.

Indeed, I remember Tom trying to talk to Helen on his birthday.

Can we have a thread title that is not HellRob related? Just to show SOC what we think of his sensationalist stories. I'm sure that he will be mortified. Not.