Sections of the United States media were scathing yesterday about the decision to allow Ms Louise Woodward return to Britain. While some newspapers supported the decision and focused on the problems of the au pair system, others criticised the vocal support for Ms Woodward from her cheerleaders in Elton, Cheshire. These positions were best represented by the Boston Globe and New York Post. In the Post, under the headline, "Attention, thugs: To beat the rap, use a fan club", one journalist addressed her piece to "aspiring felons everywhere". Andrea Peyser wrote: "Looking to beat that pesky murder rap? Anxious to walk free - perchance, as a hero - soon after slicing, shooting or shaking the life out of innocent folk?
"If you really want to improve your odds of getting sprung from jail, preferably while your victim is still warm, I suggest you follow the lead of Louise Woodward . . . Get yourself a fan club."
She said the decision did "irrevocable damage" to the US jury system, "despite clearcut evidence proving the sweet-faced woman shook an eight-month-old baby until his brain turned to mush".
She concluded: "The only comfort I can find in the Massachusetts court's horrendous decision to free Louise Woodward is that now, it appears, she'll return to her fan club in merry old Elton, England.
"Let them have her. Maybe then our children will be safe."
The Boston Globe defended the Massachusetts justice system, saying the case showed its "strength and flexibility" and concluded that justice had been done.
It saved its strongest condemnation for the au pair system, which, it says, is "inherently exploitative of young women and invites tragedies of the sort that befell young Matthew Eappen when he was in Woodward's care".
In a leader, the newspaper said: "It is a system of cut-rate childcare.
"But even if the young women have some experience, as Woodward did, many are ill-prepared for the rigours of full-time childcare. And the Eappens's children - one an infant, the other a two-year-old - would have been a special challenge."
The newspaper said the law should be changed and suggested a maximum 30-hour week would be more appropriate for au pairs.
"It might make sense to allow full-time nannies into the United States on special work permits, but nannies should be mature, trained people capable of the work. Childcare is no place for confused, inexperienced, frustrated, immature, or angry young women - barely more than girls - working all by themselves."