The Archers - It's so much more than just a soap. It's a bloody drama!

[PseudoBadger]

Will it still be Sunday tonight?

I'm pretty about the mental health assessment she's supposed to have had.

Horrible police woman made a point of saying she'd had one and was fit for interview but given so far Helen hasn't been capable of anything other than hysterical wittering about how much Henry must be missing her I can't believe she said much more in a mental state examination.

Topaz I wasn't suggesting that she wasn't under pressure or Rob wasn't an utter bastard I'd stab him myself... just that on the facts as we know them, she could be convicted.

I think she will want the baby once it is nornand we will be forced to endure the horror if him being taken away.

Her voice softened a bit the other day when they asked if she knew what she was having.

The WA is starting to sound a bit more well we'll take the publicity/donations but really when you think about it its a bit shit. It was still very impersonal though - they weren't addressing the victims to say do not worry. We can help.

For every Helen there are 1000s and 1000s of Jess's who just drive off one morning leaving their bastard ex behind and going on to feel much better for it.

I think that Womens Aid statement is extremely wise (though bloody depressing).

I suspect the solictor's actions stem from the fact that it's very clear Helen was holding the knife. They were always going to charge her with something. Once they had Ursula's statement, together with what they'd gleaned from others it was much more likely attempted murder would be the way they went. And actually as other posters have suggested that might be a hopeful way out for the story because she is guilty of using the knife but she wasn't trying to kill him. She was trying to stop him from hurting her and her son and her state of mind, having been subject to the control he had was not in any sense 'normal.

I don't think that's what's going to happen though. When Rob wakes up the police will speak to him and if he actually tells them the truth, that he threatened her and told her to kill herself, that he frightened her, that it's his fault as it were then I think it would be much harder for the CPS to prosecute her on a serious charge. And then where will Helen be - off the hook but with Rob able to prevent her from seeing both her children? If she went back to him she could have the children, have the life back. Possibly her family would never accept it, which would suit Rob fine. Possibly his family wouldn't accept it, again that won't bother him. And he would have the one thing he craves more than anything - total and utter control. By the time she's been on remand for a few days Helen would be in no state to extricate herself from this situation. She needs a huge amount of support to be free of the effect Rob has had on her.

Just read a whole article in the Times Law section about this, p52 of today's Times, I can't link as its subscribers only online. There's no defence of loss of control to a charge of attempted murder. If he survives he could still be charged with coercive behaviour under the new act. Maybe, just maybe.....

The rubbishness of the storyline notwithstanding, is anyone else sad for what this means for the future of Bridge Farm? Whatever we thought of them as characters, I liked the way Tom and Helen worked together rather than competing over the farm and actually seemed to like each other as siblings. It made a nice contrast to Brookfield, the Grundies, Tony and his sisters etc and I was interested to see how they would work once Tony and Pat were not around. Now I can't really see how it won't just become primarily Tom's farm.

"Sorry you have to poo in a bag. I've enclosed my 'refer a friend' voucher on the wholesale discount for Tena Lady.

As a gesture of reconciliation between our families, I'm only going to charge 5% on the repayment of the dowry money until you're discharged from hospital."

And maybe just maybe, in a compassionate society (Do we even have one of those in the UK just now) Helen and all the real Helens have done their suffering in advance instead of being punished further. IRL a woman in H's situation would find it very hard to recover completely anyway, whether she spends a decade locked up or not. No doubt she'll do several months on remand anyway. Of course it all depends how Soc decides to write it.

But IRL in the UK women's prisons are full of women who have been abused. Not all have stabbed their abuser, many have done drugs and shoplifted to survive. Relatively few women prisoners in the UK have done a serious crime like this, and even fewer will have intended it. Compared with men's prisons, where there are proportionately more career criminals, gangsters, drug dealers, people who have killed with intent, etc. , women's prisons are top-heavy with poor wee souls who got themselves into situations they got lost in. Most are not a danger to the rest of society, and the way Helen is portrayed she isn't either.

Mitigating factors in attempted murder are self defense, provocation (including prolonged stress) and mental disorder.

Helen could conceivably argue all three

Lord Hall said today the story will run another 12 months

Back to Wikipedia - apparently there's case law that says a jury can choose to convict of GBH whilst acquitting of attempted murder. Anyway I'd have thought the CPS is bound to proffer a separate wounding charge, so I wouldn't have thought Helen could get off purely because the jury accepted there was no attempt to murder.

The mh assessment is odd

A few weeks back she needed an emergency mh referral and now- a few hours after stabbing someone - she is considered perfectly fine with no issues

Would that not make someone raise an eyebrow?

And, gypsy, yes I agree, bampot and tampon are excellent words. I've never read Brookmyre - reading Denise Mina as a bit of light relief from TA! Set in Helensburgh, now there's a place like Ambridge - all artifice. Posh on the surface with an undercurrent of bad stuff happening ....

I don't think I can cope with another 12 months. Its virtually a full time job keeping up with the threads
Iorek

I was looking at that as well Augusta, and found this:

"When considering the choice of charge, prosecutors should consider what alternative verdicts may be open to a jury on an allegation of attempted murder. Section 6(3) of the Criminal Law Act 1967 applies. Prosecutors should note the judgement in R v Morrison [2003] 1 W.L.R.1859, in which, on a single count of attempted murder, the Court of Appeal held that the trial judge had been right to leave to the jury an alternative count of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent, because a defendant could not intend to kill without also intending to cause grievous bodily harm. If an alternative count can be left to the jury, prosecutors should not normally add it to the indictment, but should draw to the attention of counsel that the alternative count may be available."

I don't want to listen anymore. It's actually bad for my mental health which I realised after today's episode.

Problem is, I like this thread!! Is there another topic we could start a thread about??!??

Sorry, I should have added - so she doesn't need to be charged with the alternative of GBH at this point

What does bampot actually mean?

BYOS I feel.the same. I was coping with sl up.to this point.
Come to the one line at a time thread.

Slice of Lemon, crossposted while I was doing my wee sociology essay. i wasn't really aiming at anyone's comments, just the general tone which I kind of felt wanted 'head to roll'. But ti is fiction and we are at the mercy of the Sw. When does Sean oc move on? But I suppose I'd like to see more compassion for the real helens and I'm as frustrated as anyone at the turn of events in this SL.

The One line at a time thread is excellent. V funny. I'm not quick enough to post on it.

There's a fab bunfight going on on the TA Facebook page - and I KNOW some of them are MNers because they're referring to the Knob and Hellin show!!

You didn't come back to One line at a time BYOS? No shortage of lols there ...

I agree about the amount of listener time it's taking outside the 13 minutes ...

It is a good thread but my hearts not in it anymore

Bampot is a variant of barmpot. Barm is the frothy bit on the top of beer. A barmpot is the bucket you chick the excess froth into, so basically a bucket of beer leavings. It means idiot.