Reviews : Sarah Thornton: The Story of a Woman Who Killed
| Author | Vicky Harris |
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455059404100122 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
49
refer
to
programmes
around
the
country
run
by
the
Probation
Service
and
on
a
multi-agency
basis,
aimed
at
protecting
victims
and
preventing
re-offending
through
engaging
in
work
with
sexual
offenders.
Also
of
significance
is
NOTA’s
(the
national
inter-agency
network
for
people
working
with
sex
offenders)
developing
role.
Mention
is
made
of
recent
prison
programmes
but
whilst
Jean
Renvoize
rightly
exercises
a
note
of
caution
m
relation
to
resources,
she
states
that
follow
up
treatment
will
be
placed
’in
the
hands
of
over-worked
probation
officers.’
The
commitment
and
notivation
of
those
who
have
established
and
maintained
programmes
over a
number
of
years
is
nowhere
apparent!
The
book
does
provide
an
’inter-
agency
over-view’
as
promised
but
was,
in
such
a
swiftly
developing
area
of
work,
bound
to
struggle
in
living
up
to
the
label.
In
my
opinion
it
adds
little
that
is
new
and
that
is
not
described
more
thoroughly
elsewhere
in
the
growing
number
of
British
books
on
this
subject.
Frances
Flaxington
SPO/Co-ordinator
of
Work
with
Sex
Offenders,
Manchester
Sarah
Thornton:
The
Story
of a
Woman
Who
Killed
Jennifer
Nadel
Gollancz,
1993;
£6.99
pbk
This
book
makes
for
gripping
sad
reading.
What
makes
it
so
compelling?
As
a
woman
reader
there’s
a
gradual
realisation
that
this
story
could
so
easily
be
yours.
For
Sara
Thornton,
the
combination
of
a
damaging
personal
history,
unconventionality,
single
parenthood
and
love
for
a
disturbed
and
violent
man
led
to
disaster.
Society
attempts
to
control
and
pumsh
women
who
veer
from
the
prescribed
path.
The
ultimate
act
of
rebellion
is
to
stab
your
hard
working
husband
just
because
he
swore
at
you
and
’liked
a
drink’.
Jennifer
Nadel
manages
to
tell
Sara’s
story
in
a
caring
and
unsentimental
way
and
to
set
it
within
a
social
and
political
context
which
the
reader
anticipates
will
lead
to
her
captivity
as
a
means
of
control.
Although
this
book
comes
recommended,
there
were
occasions
when
Nadel’s
style
irritated.
Maybe
for
a
reader
who
has
worked
with
alcohol
misusers,
her
mini
lecture
on
alcoholism
as
a
disease
seemed
too
unquestioning,
too
simple.
It
also
detracted,
for
me,
from
an
analysis
of
power
imbalance
within
Sara’s
relationship
with
Malcolm
Thornton.
However,
the
overview
of
the
criminal
justice
system
and
Sara’s
experience
of
it
deftly
illustrates
the
powerlessness
of
a
woman
within
an
institution
devised
by
men,
operated
by
men.
Two
days
after
Sara’s
appeal
was
turned
down
a
man
walked
free;
he
had
been
given
a
suspended
sentence
for
killing
his
alcoholic
common
law
wife.
Mr
Justice
Popplewell
told
him:
’The
woman
he
had
killed
would
have
tried
the
patience
of
a
saint’.
Long
before
becoming
a
convicted
murderer,
Sara
was
considered
far
too
rebellious
to
be
a
madonna
and
therefore
was
judged
accordingly.
Vicky
Harris
Probation
Officer,
Norwich
To continue reading
Request your trial