You're right that there's no call for people to be downright nasty about this - as with the McCanns, people tend to forget that she's not the criminal in their rush to judge. When I was 15, I spent most of the day on a school trip on Bastille Day in Paris wandering around by myself. Something could, on reflection, have happened. What actually happened was that I had my first experience of being treated and respected like an adult that I wouldn't do anything daft. 15 is quite old nowadays. It's not like being 15 40 years ago.

Lets get back to parental basics here. The McCanns and now Mrs. MacKeown both failed key tests of parental responsibility in terms of supervision and duty of care. Both Maddie and Scarlett are the victims of this. Both would be alive if the parents had acted with greater responsibility.

Luckily 95% of parents DO act in the interests of their children, day in and day out.

This poor young girl really never stood a chance. She is exactly the sort of girl that men like those responsible pray on. Obviously her mother is not resposnible for her death. But she has a duty of care towards her children and had she taken her parental duties as seriously as most people do, none of this would have happened. Her daughter should have been tucked up in bed at 2 am not drinking in a bar without any supervision. It seems to me that people think that just because they are abroad, in a fancy resort the same parental responsibilties do not apply. I really do not believe that the McCann's would have left 3 children under the age of 4 in their Leicester home alone while they went out for dinner. Anyway.... what was a 15 year old who should be in full-time education doing on a 6 month holiday in Goa???

@Sophie

Cut the crap, a 6 month vacation for a 15 year old, with added bonus of alcohol, drugs and partying. Way to go that seems like ideal parenting to you. Even a billionaire will think a hundred times before spoiling his kids like this.

The best place for Scarlett was in school and its shocking that this lady claims that 6 months in Goa was the best school education she could buy.

“No, one should not feel in this manner that India is a TOURIST – UNFRIENDLY NATION. Government of India is giving various facilities for tourists in different States. Such tourist states or tourist places are being defamed by certain bad elements. One may feel that it is only because of law & order situation in the country and particularly on such tourist spots/states.

Matter has been raised in Parliament of India and some of the female parliamentarians also felt that a Notification be issued to foreign countries for not sending their female children alone to India as tourists, about which I myself feel will not be a healthy practice, if foreign nationals are instructed in such a manner.

Nodoubt that media plays a bigger role, but the statements of the Hon’ble Chief Minister of the States where any crime occurs should contain sympathetic views about the family of victim instead of blaming the members of the family of victims, as such statements increases fire in the minds of public in general and specifically in the minds of members of family of victims.

However, inspite of some incidents with tourists in a few states, this can not be alleged that India is a tourist-unfriendly nation as India was a Tourist-Friendly Nation, India is a Tourist-Friendly Nation, and India will remain a Tourist-Friendly Nation”.

From:
NARESH SARIN,

Andrew Buncombe you are totally mad and invading privacy by printing this picture of this poor girl on the web - i guess if we did not have such laws in this country you would have put the picture of her face on there too. I am glad that so many people have seen your article as total crap and nonsense and to compare this with the McCann case is stupid. Of course the McCann's feel bad about leaving their daughter but they did it in an innocent way, in a protected holiday place with security all around. Scarlett was thrown to the wolves. Of course everyone who has commented on this blog feels compassion for Mrs MacKeon and this horrible event but it is heartfelt and IMPORTANT that people make it clear that Scarlett was abandoned and we do not approve. This is a good sign of human nature and thank god most people take care of their children. In the case of many kids in this country being in danger to drugs even at school this cannot be compared either. Mrs Mackeon dumped her daughter in to an environment that is well known for its drugs and exploitation. She was not ignorant. This was a mistake and gave her daughter a much higher chance of being vulnerable. It is a warning to others too and the parents who are out in Goa right now with their kids. You are not a good journalist.

if i wanted to take my children on a six month "educational" holiday to india goa would be the very last place on my list of must see places. it has developed a seedy reputation over the years and the authorities have turned a blind eye to the criminal presence simply because they bring in tourist revenue. how else can you explain the nigerian drug gangs which operate openly in tandem with the local gangsters? or the sex trade which includes child sex. it is time for the indian authorities to open their eyes and to reach the logical decision that they do not want the hippie type tourist anymore. once this decision is reached a proper clean up can follow.

this is daydreaming, of course. none of this will actually be done and the druggies, perverts and paedos will continue to flock to goa. goa does not deserve this. it is paradise ruined by greed. scarlett was a victim of this system.

Andrew i think you are in shock from this horrible thing and you needed to share it with the blog to offload the horror of it. The mother has met her own terrible fate of what happens when you are naive and stupid and do not think. Look at her and how she lives her life! Why can't we judge? She could live as she does if she was single but not as a mother i am sorry. She is now uncovering the even worst sleeze and filth that she never imagined and so she has to get the press involved to let the world know about this cess pit system of Indian corrupt police etc etc and her horror of the death of her daughter. What a terrible way to learn this lesson. Goa was always a dangerous place for a single woman never mind a 15 year old. Again the question - what was she thinking? as for journalism, i think you have got emotionally involved which makes you lacking in objectivity and not being able to accurately see the truth (I don't blame you you are human after all).

it is just this free for all that has led to goa's downfall. it started off simply as tolerance of the strange but snowballed into a monster of sleaze and debauchery of the worst type. it has attracted the worst type of human being from all over the world and scarlett has become it's latest victim.

ordinary tourists are often dismayed at what they see in goa but without leadership from the top it does not look like changing anytime soon. I would have thought that in the new economic climate the indians would want to change the image of goa for the better. there is no better time than now to embark upon a course of action which will change goa's tourist landscape for the better. better for the tourists, better for goa and better for india as a whole.

The idiots here who are critising the poor mother of a child who has recently been raped and murdered, are unbelievable.

She did not abandon her child, or commit anything close to a crime.

She simply trusted people she had known some time, she trusted the wrong people, she did not leave Scarlett alone at all.

Anyway, such comments about her are simply a tactic to deflect from the hideous truth of a child being raped and murdered in India, in a holiday resort.

People who are focusing on fault finding the mother are probably just not strong enough to handle the truth, luckily Scarlett Keelings mother appears to be a strong woman who will not be rail roaded by this kind of nonsense.

I wish her every success in bringing the corrupt Indian authorities to task on this and who knows, may even wake some people up to the atrocious attitude towards Western women in India.

Poor Scarlett, for her sake, lets keep focused on the real problem in this matter.

Many things were not how it should have been in this horrific incident.

It's only now that India tries sell it's sprituality taking cues for decades, when westerners landed up and chose to stay among the filthiest options in India, to be in tune with spirituality!! (in places most Indians would think many times about,... given a choice). Drugs, nudity and indiscreet sex came with it.

Many western people have felt good about themselves by turning a blind eye to a section of India which has for years lived off them and being under the psycological spell of most un'holymen' of India. They have seeked bliss (for decades) in such conditions.

India does not have answers to the emptiness of hearts. Neither do these people. So please wake up. India is a not a spiritual mystical place of your fantasy. Its is a real place where ordinary people live abd behave just like they do in your country.

oh right...a woman with 7 kids by different men does not know that perhaps her beautiful 15 year old daughter is in danger when left alone in one of the most notorious places in India for drugs, sex and debauchery. Clare is naive. She is living in la la land where all the do-gooders and politically correct people live in this country and who create havoc in society with their stupid ideas of letting everyone off the hook. Sorry darling, but you can get away with living like that neglectful mother in a country where they hand out benefits and council houses to all and sundry but take your brood to a place like Goa when you are a dosser and see what happens. Actually Goa is a fantastic place, people are brilliant but the westerners went there in the hippee days for drugs, sex and spiritual stuff and it got ruined because all the dark stuff started happening, like it does in Bali and other places where the druggies go. Proper tourism will cover it up more but prostitution will happen then and other such things. Wake up Clare, you are living in a land where you can take risks, you can't take risks in a place like Goa and especially with children.

now Janet Street porter is defending the mother in her article...of course she would - this is the woman who thinks Kate Moss is cool with all the cocaine snorting etc and she is a mother to a little girl too. What is wrong with the commentators in this country? Where are the values?

I took my 12 year old daughter to India last year and found myself being ultra-protective of her. I made sure she was dresed very demurely and was in a sense surrounded at all times. Partly because she attracted alot of stares, partly because it seemed to fit in with the local mores ie how the local people treated their own daughters.
I completely agree that teenagers cannot be watched at all times and that sometimes risks have to be taken to ensure that they slowly feel the weight of adulthood. This poor family misjudged the situation and will have to live with the consequences of losing their daughter and sister for the rest of their lives. Sadly, pious rating wont bring her back.
Have you really never left a child in a situation that could have become dangerous? Right...

Hopefully now the authorities will wake up and clear Goa of all the scum - half nude and immoral hippies, drugs, raves etc. When we last visited Goa, we observed several white women moving around in compromising ways with the local Goan studs- obviously the older ones pay for it and the younger ones sell it. Goa,one of the most beautiful beaches in India, is sadly no longer inviting to the indian tourist who has to go to all the way to langkawi, singapore, or bali for a decent beach holiday.

at least she will make enough money out of it now from all the media interest when she gets back to look after the rest of her kids now properly unless it all goes on another holiday.

I had to stop reading the comments to this sympathetic article, written by Andrew Buncombe.

It seems to me that an alarming number of people spend most of their effort and intellects on defending their own, personal opinions - often justifying themselves before challenging the expressions and thoughts of others - instead of truthfully considering what a mortality means. If anyone has lost someone close to them, they will know about the pain and the grief it causes and that those feelings have nothing to do with the circumstances of the family within which the deceased belonged (In this case, poor Scarlett).

I urge people to consider what sympathy means to you. What does empathy mean to you? Consider it independently, privately. Don't read what other people say, work it out for your self. I sense a lot of pain in the words of some of the people that have commented here. I agree about the irresponsibility of Fiona, as a mother, but now it is time for you all to realize your responsibilities as people. It is not right to want people to suffer, it's as simple as that. I could go on all day about why this is so, but I am constantly reading the media and your views and always try to refrain being dragged into these kind of arguments which are always centered around incoherent, unthoughtful perceptions. Consider yourselves and how you would feel if you were a victim of a crime, despite the circumstance.

Some one here said something abt the 'atrocious way western women are treated in India'. I want to say a few things about this being an Indian and having lived in London for some time.
Not all tourists who come to India are keen to learn to even borderline respectful of the Indian culture. If they paid a sligtest attention they would have known that in India to step out being dressed the way they do (usually with utter disregard to whats the acceptable norm) they would attract attention. I am not saying they should wear burqas but Indian women when out in public 'usually' dress very conservatively by western standards. So yes if you are out wearing a spagetti strap with no bra and cotton shorts they show your panty line you will be subject to 'atrocious behaviour'. You can avoid it by simply wearing something long sleeved and perhaps dare I say a fitted bra. Even I would attract attention should I walk down a street in London with my body painted red and blue. To an average Indian seeing a woman dressed like most western tourists do is a shock and they openly stare (I admit I am not proud of this). But try and appreciate the local mileu when you are there. India is more than dirt cheap shopping and a peadophilia heaven.