Karen Harrington jailed for life for the murder of Santina Cawley

If an adult and a child are in a room, and the adult kills the child, then only that adult is to blame for that act of killing.

The extreme anger is justified.

She absolutely annihilated a 2 year old defenceless child and you are wondering why folks are angry?

Yes, I understand your point about her being allowed be in the care of this woman. The child was let down by others, and they too are to blame; but ultimately this twisted fook (Harrington) barbarically destroyed the poor little girl.

But will this woman serve much of her actual sentence in prison?

There might be a big headline sentence, but we all know that nobody serves the sentence they are given. For life sentences you are entitled to parole after the lesser of 12 years or half your sentence. But I honestly doubt that she will even make it to 12 years inside, not a hope in hell. That would even be the case for mens prisons, no way someone will do 12 years for murder, and in the womens prison system it is likely to be even more lenient still.

Even though remission, and good behaviour does not supposedly apply to life sentences, my guess is that they will more or less apply it anyway under a different name in order to shorten her imprisonment. Standard remission takes off a quarter of your sentence, and enhanced remission takes of a further third of the remaining sentence. And you are entitled to it unless there is a reason that you should not get it, it bad behaviour or refusing to take part in structured activities. Then they can also give you day to day and full temporary release at the governors discretion.

the average time served on a life sentence is around 20 years. that is the average. some have served much more. given it was a child she killed there is not a hope in hell of her serving only 10-12 years. you are talking through your bottom. As per.

Also I'd be just as disgusted with the Mirror for offering money. There should be laws in place against this outside of the parents no interviews for at least 6 months anyone caught gets a massive fine both interviewee and media outlet with money going to victim services charities. Still don't if he was paid tho.

I think it's around 17 years

Anyway, life sentence can mean anywhere between 7-life.....parole I believe can be sought after 7 years, but maybe this changed recently...

There are killers in prison past 20 years. I just hope this vile thing never gets out.

Although he did not kill her, he is responsible for allowing her to be in the care of this woman that night. A night filled with chaos from what I have read.

I am sorry, but I cannot see how she would do 12 years let alone 20. Especially as a woman in the likes of the Dochas Centre. It wasn't a premeditated crime and was committed while under heavy influence of drink and drugs. Once she is clean of substances, she is a very low risk of re-offending. Certainly, the chances of her repeating this type of crime must be near nil.

The Dochas has individual houses on the campus, with a group of women assigned to each house, where they each have their own rooms. They are allowed the run of the houses, and at night time only the main door of the house is locked but there legally has to be fire exits. They are served lunch in the communal dining room else where in the prison, but they can make their own dinners in the house if they want.

So many excuses and downplaying her actions, have you no shame? Do you follow your same logic when talking about a man that murders his kids??

the most offensive thing about their posts is how stupid and uninformed they are.

I've seldom heard such twisted reasoning and logic.

You believe the person who was not present during the murder/beating/torture is MORE responsible for the murder/beating/torture than the person who actually physically carried out the murder/beating/torture. When you read that sentence, do you not see how far off the mark you are?

I think the poster's point was that the father is the actual parent/guardian, and he allowed his young daughter in this clearly erratic woman's care that night, which put the child in harms way. Is the father as culpable? Well, I can see why folks would think this.

the fathers job is to look after the child, he failed miserably in that regard, you can be well sure this wan has a long history no doubt of mental and drug issues

A good parent would be keeping well away from them and you would hope they feel responsible