"No future for herself..."

I despair of this country sometimes, I really do. This story has me goggle-eyed with incredulity and silent, glowering anger - a woman who burnt her baby to death is spared prison.

Sorry, come again?

Wait, that's too polite.

What the flying fuck? What in the name of holy crap is going on? This woman started a fire that killed her baby. In most cultures this would be considered a crime worthy of life imprisonment at the very least - perhaps even the death penalty. In this country, in this day and age, starting fire that kills your baby you get "a three-year community order with a period of supervision." The judicial equivalent of having your pocket money stopped.

There are mitigating factors. But of course, in this day and age, you have to expect extenuating circumstances. "Excuses" would be another way of putting it. According to this, one in ten women suffer from post-natal depression. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but there is not a nationwide epidemic of baby burning going on. No doubt this reprehensible excuse for human being had serious post-natal depression, but she had a choice. She had a choice between starting that fire and not starting that fire. And she chose to do the wrong, the totally evil and disgusting, thing. And she should be punished for it.

This is what is fundamentally at the heart of this killing - she chose to do it. She chose to remove the smoke alarm batteries, she chose to concoct an elaborate and deeply unconvincing story about being attacked. She planned this. She may have been suffering from mental illness at the time, but she still made a choice. And her baby, a living, breathing person who depended on her totally, died as a result of her choice.

I would have far more sympathy for this pigdog of a woman if she was made up to face up what she has done, and if she was forced to take responsibility for killing her own offspring. As it stands, the simple message that has been sent out is that the life of Alexander Gallon is worth fuck all.