"But first of all, and before getting into the arguments and the moralising, isn't it great to have a story like this which doesn't have the terrible ending that we have learned to expect?   

I've just been watching the scenes of the friends and relatives and neighbours getting the news, and it was like watching a miracle unfold. Very moving and completely genuine. You don't see something like that very often on TV."

McGrath's right on the button. A child most of us thought of as abused and murdered has been found alive and, apparently, well. That's a cause for real celebration, and the picking-over of her mother's lifestyle is, at this moment, unworthy.

Like others, I suspect there's more to this story than first meets the eye, but I don't believe the mother's the one who should be targetted, she's clearly been a tormented woman these past few weeks and is deserving of real sympathy from all of us who have gone through parenthood. IMHO.