Louise Woodward Part Three: The Day
Things start to come apart
This is my third post looking at the Louise Woodward case. You can see the first two here and here.
Once again, I’m looking at her words from the BBC Panorama interview in June 1998. This extract deals with the events on the day Matthew Eappen took ill.
MB
On February 4th itself did you and the children go through the normal routines that you and the children had been practising during your working time at the Eappens?
LW
No, it was a very strange day. I think it was almost, it was impossible to stick to the normal routine, because Matthew basically slept the entire day. I’d woke up in the morning and she, Debbie had handed him to me and he was crying, and he was tearful throughout the day. But before breakfast, I’d even prepared breakfast, he’d fallen asleep in his bouncy chair, which was very unusual because he’d only just gotten up.
MB
Had that ever happened before?
LW
Never. And he shouldn’t have been tired until his midday nap. So I had to wake him up for his bath, and he didn’t enjoy his bath like he usually did. Usually it was a fun time, it was a play time. Often I’d have both the children in there together, but that one day I had, Matthew was on his own, and he cried almost entirely the whole way through - he was really having a tough time with it, so I thought that he was probably tired, and I figured I would get the bath over with as quickly as I could and put him down for a nap - which I did.
LW
And I brought him down for lunch and he didn’t want to eat. It was almost impossible to get him to eat anything. I think I made him peas and some formula in a bottle, and he didn’t want it - he screamed and he pushed it away. He absolutely did not want to eat.
LW
But I decided I couldn’t force him to eat, so I took him into the family room. And we were playing for a while. During that time I had a conversation with my friend Ru, like we did every day.
MB
How long was that conversation?
LW
Um, it was fairly long. I don’t know exactly. I think also it was in about two or three parts, you know, because she would say - usually when she called me she was in the process of cleaning the kitchen or something, so she’d say ‘Oh I’ll hang up. I’ll call you back in a minute’. And while I was on the phone with Ru I was playing with Matthew, sitting on the floor. And for that time, for maybe a two-hour period, he seemed fine, he seemed himself, and he seemed pretty happy. Then he started to get cranky and upset, and -
MB
What sort of symptoms was he displaying at this point?
LW
Well, just that he was - he was rubbing his eyes a lot and he was very upset, and he was acting like he was tired. But of course it was only two hours since I’d got him up from his long nap. I walked around the room with him, just patting his back and holding him, and he fell asleep in my arms.
MB
Did you put him to bed?
LW
I don’t know. I really, I can’t remember.
Reassuring
As with the previous extract I looked at, Louise is still telling everything in the past tense, which is a good indicator of recalled events rather than constructed ones.
She still refers to Matthew by his first name several times, which is reassuring, and she continues to own her actions with the pronoun “I” a lot.
However
In the first extract, Louise answers all the questions she is asked directly and in a straightforward manner. Here, she starts to offer information that wasn't asked of her. She is giving justifications and explanations for her answers, this might not be a surprise given the accusations made about the day, but it does show a sensitivity to the subject.
While Louise is very clear on Matthew’s behaviour, his actions and his demeanour on the day, she is less clear on hers.
She says she “thinks” she made peas and formula. She can’t remember the duration of the call with her friend, and she can’t remember if she put Matthew to bed.
Not remembering details is fine, but it is notable that she seems to recall Matthew’s details but not her own.
The usual
On two instances, she spends a lot of time saying what usually happened and less time on what did happen. These are when describing the bath-time scenario and the phone call with her friend.
At the beginning of this extract she starts by saying “it was a very strange day…. it was impossible to stick to the normal routine”. In these later descriptions, it feels her focus is on what typically happens as much as what did happen.
There’s a factual inconsistency in this extract. Near the start, Louise says, “Matthew basically slept the entire day”. However, in her telling of events that day, she lists long periods (two hours or more) where he was awake.
Compared to a lot of Louise’s answers, the story around the bath feels disjointed. Until now, her retelling of events has flowed, they have been a list of things that happened.
The bath answer doesn’t flow so easily. Not only does she jump to how things usually happened, it also follows a pattern of “and…so…” which is the pattern of an explanation rather than a recounting. This response also more than answers the question, which was, “had that ever happened before?” (referring to Matthew falling asleep before breakfast). When people don’t answer a question in a simple and straightforward manner, it’s a marker that they are speaking about something sensitive..
Have a read:
Never. And he shouldn’t have been tired until his midday nap. So I had to wake him up for his bath, and he didn’t enjoy his bath like he usually did. Usually it was a fun time, it was a play time. Often I’d have both the children in there together, but that one day I had, Matthew was on his own, and he cried almost entirely the whole way through - he was really having a tough time with it, so I thought that he was probably tired, and I figured I would get the bath over with as quickly as I could and put him down for a nap - which I did.
This “and…so” format will become more important in the final extract.
Conclusion
There are two markers of credibility here, with the past tense and first names.
However, the bath and phone call parts of this extract cause me concerns. The descriptions are not vivid, there is no flow, and we learn as much about what usually happened as what did happen.
In the last part, we’ll see this pattern continue and come to a conclusion. Subscribe to get it in your inbox.
What else do you notice? Let me know in the comments.
The bath disturbs me. I’ve had a crying, sick baby before and it can take a toll on your mental state with the long periods of crying - it relases stress hormones and you want to make it stop. I love my child but Louise didn’t love the two kids here - they weren’t hers. She was young and worked 45 hours taking care of them. That’s not a fun time. Her glancing over that bath and the phone call makes me think something happened right there she’s not proud of.
I’ve been following the Harmony Montgomery case.
Have you seen this interview? https://youtu.be/VBNY-AQpjjk