http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1310763,00.html
Mother On Scarlett - In Her Own Words Fiona MacKeown's Letter To You Updated:15:28, Friday March 28, 2008 On the day Scarlett Keeling's body begins its long journey home, her mother, Fiona MacKeown, has talked openly to Sky News about the murder of her 15-year-old daughter and the criticism fired at her from the UK. Fiona MacKeown She is offering Sky News Online readers the chance to comment to her direct and has promised to reply to as many of you as possible. Read Ms MacKeown, in her own words, and then post your comment to her: I won't feel as though I have succeeded until I get the police to agree to an independent inquiry. I won't be able to relax until then. I won't feel happy until that inquiry. I still feel there has been a cover-up and the independent inquiry is the only way of getting to the truth. The people from the Central Office of Investigation (CBI) won't take bribes from anybody. They aren't related to anybody here (in Goa). The guys here have been involved with each other for years and there are all sorts of ties, family ties, business ties, all sorts. Advertisement Advertisement I feel like I am making tiny steps forward but I am really suspicious about what the police are saying. I think if I went home and just didn't come back, the CBI inquiry would just be washed away and the whole thing - Scarlett's murder, her rape - would be forgotten. I do have worries about leaving Goa even for a short period. I'd love to see the whole thing through but I miss my children. They need me and I need them and I have to go back to England. I want to come back to Goa to follow it through but I will make it as short as possible. I will find it difficult to pay for all of this but I am prepared to sell my ponies and my livestock, even the family pets to pay for it. I haven't been in Britain but I have been really upset about what some people have been saying about me. I stopped reading the papers because so much of it wasn't true. None of them know me and they were making comments about me which weren't based on fact. Scarlett's body begins journey home A couple of times I have been really angry because it is so irrelevant to the case. I find it really upsetting when they print things like: 'How could she leave her daughter alone for weeks on end in the middle of Goa?' I didn't do that, but people don't seem to accept that. Right from having my children I have been criticised: 'You shouldn't have so many children,' they said. People even suggested I should have abortions when I was pregnant and I was on my own but I decided I could manage and I don't regret it. I wouldn't change what I have, not for anything. I really believe life gives you what you are meant to have. I couldn't live with myself after having an abortion but that's my choice. I don't condemn other people for making their choices and I don't understand why they feel they have to pass judgement on me. I sort of understand why people criticise me because they must be unhappy with themselves. When people put others down it's usually to make themselves feel better. Scarlett was raped and murdered When people say: 'She should have her other children taken away, she was responsible for Scarlett's death', that does hurt. I wouldn't be normal if I didn't feel upset. But this is from people who don't even know me. If one of my best friends said it, I would be heartbroken but these people don't even know me. I try not to defend myself all the time, because I think 'What is the point?' It just takes up so much energy when I need it for other things which are more important, like fighting for justice for Scarlett. I don't want Scarlett's death to be treated like it was nothing. It was a hideous, serious thing which happened to her and by trying to cover it up they are saying her life was worthless. If I just went away it would be like I was agreeing with them. If I could stop it happening to someone else, it would make it worth it. Teenager's body found on a beach The beaches in Goa felt like a safe place to be when we first arrived but they weren't. If I could make the Goan government make the beaches safer then it would feel like some good had come out of something so horrible. I don't like the normal standard of education in Britain. I think it's too rigid and they don't allow the children to be individual. That's why I moved to Devon. The first school I moved the kids to when we moved to Devon was a nice, tiny school with about 25 kids in each class as opposed to 40 previously. But I have taken the children out at certain times when they were unhappy going to school. They would complain about being shouted at because they weren't wearing the right clothes for instance. I didn't just wrench them out straight away. I went to the school and had meetings with the head and explained it to him and they just didn't take me seriously. Fiona MacKeown Ms MacKeown wants an inquiry I approached the education authority and they said they would come out after three months to see how we were getting on because I was home-schooling them. Then after that they came out every six months. And they were perfectly happy. It was difficult teaching so many different ages and it was expensive getting so many books but I really think the children benefited from it because they were not being so criticised for being different. They could be individuals and they could do things at their own pace. For instance, Isis (aged 10) loved maths and we spent lots of time doing that but she found reading difficult so we went slower with that. When they are at school they have to feel good about themselves otherwise they don't learn. You can't force a child to learn. They have to want to learn. I have always made sure they can learn. They always have books and pads to write on for a start. Education is important to me but you can't shove education down a child's neck that's why I like the Small School so much. Three men have been arrested (The Small School is the alternative school in Hartland, Devon, where three of the children including Scarlett attended. It has approximately 26 pupils in total.) They are like a family there. They eat organic food and it's vegetarian. They do have rules but the main ethos is to combine spirit. Soul and body - that's what they say they want to provide. They offer yoga and meditation there as well as geography, history, Latin and French and the children there are doing GCSEs. People have said 'Why wasn't Scarlett at home doing her GCSEs?' Well she was knocked back a year because she had been home-schooled so she was a little behind with the curriculum by the time we got her into the year. I got nine GCSEs but I've never used them. I don't think it's a necessity, especially at that age. I don't have ambitions for my children. I want them to do whatever makes my children happy. I don't believe in having fixed ideals for them. Scarlett stayed with her boyfriend My second oldest son Silas (17 years) is studying law at college and could end up being a lawyer but I'd be happy if any of my children decided to be a traveller or absolutely anything. I just want them to be happy. They could spend the rest of their lives in a gypsy caravan just so long as they are happy. Scarlett's death has made me much more protective over the other children. I am not a controlling person in general but I think I will be a lot more worried about them in future. I regret letting Scarlett go that day but I don't think I made a wrong choice in trusting Julio (the 25-year-old tour guide Scarlett stayed with) to look after her. Scarlett went back to Goa and I wish I'd kept her with me. We were talking of going home (to see my eldest son in the UK who had had a car accident). I wish I could turn back the clock and say no, don't go back. She was going back to see a friend whose mother had died and she wanted to take flowers. Four days later she was dead. The last message ends 'Love U'. That's what she was like, very affectionate and very vocal about it and that's what she was like with the little ones. We'll all miss her. Life goes on and I have the other children to keep me going but we will never forget her. The children talk about her all the time and they really miss her. As the oldest girl she was very caring. She'd take over from me and read them stories and play with them. The worst thing I have to do now is talk to her friends. She didn't want to come and I made her and they know I made her. She didn't want to leave her boyfriend or her friends. I don't know what I am going to say to them. I have got postcards she'd written and was intending to send which say she was having the time of her life and there's not enough space on the card to say how great India was. So at least I know the last few weeks she was having a good time.
