A bitterly divided public would seem to be the inevitable reaction to last night's Panorama interview in which Louise Woodward protested her innocence, claimed she was a scapegoat and raised the possibility that Matthew Eappen's parents played some part in his death.
Sitting in an armchair, with her hands clasped in front of her, Louise Woodward insisted she had been made to pay for Matthew's death and asked, if she did not kill Matthew and his parents did not kill him, then who did? Without directly implicating Dr Sunil Eappen and his wife, Dr Deborah Eappen, Ms Woodward pointed the finger in their direction.
"If the parents didn't do it, who did? There is only you left and there was the whole feeling that somebody had to pay and that somebody had to be me," she told BBC's Panorama programme.
Asked by the BBC reporter, Mr Martin Bashir, if she did not think she was fortunate to have served only 279 days for the manslaughter of Matthew Eappen, she replied: "Yes I do. I know I'm fortunate . . . I think 279 days is a long time for an innocent person to serve. When it's 279 days of agonising, worry and pain, being torn away from your family, being locked up in a prison in a strange country, and please remember I was 18 when I went into prison, being scared, for something that you didn't even do."
Acknowledging that she was "fortunate" to have served only 279 days in prison she added: "It's not within the guidelines. It is lower than the guidelines suggest."
Perhaps the easiest question for Ms Woodward to answer came when Mr Bashir asked her if she was responsible for Matthew Eappen's death? "No I'm not. No, I'm innocent. I didn't do anything wrong. If anything, I tried to help him as best I could and didn't do anything to hurt him or harm him in any way."
Ms Woodward said she had not caused his death, the children were "adorable", and she had not caused Matthew's injuries "not on that day and I just felt sure the evidence proved that".
Millions of viewers watched Ms Woodward calmly and clearly answer questions about the circumstances of Matthew's death, her life with the Eappen family and her feelings about decision last week by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to allow her to return to Britain. Lingering shots of Ms Woodward making the case for her innocence during the 45-minute programme were intended the leave the viewer in no doubt that this was a hard-hitting interview and that the former au pair deserved the nation's sympathy.
She disclosed that the Eappens often felt guilty about leaving their children while they went to work and perhaps overcompensated for that when they were at home.
However, while her relationship with Sunil and Deborah Eappen had been at times strained - when, for example, they accused of staying out beyond a curfew - she had enjoyed working for them and was happy with the children.
Repeatedly protesting her innocence, Ms Woodward said she felt sure the medical evidence presented at her trial last year would prove that she did not cause Matthew's death and she believed that if she told the truth in court the jury would not convict her.
But the jury did not believe her. "Of course I don't accept a court's judgment when I know the truth, and I hope that people can look past it and hopefully, the search for the truth will continue. And hopefully, when more is learnt about baby shaking syndrome, or child abuse, I hope my name will eventually be cleared by that," she said.
What did she feel about those who accused her and her family of "cashing in" on Matthew's death? "The tremendous pressure and stress my family have been under has been at times almost intolerable . . . when it comes to money my family haven't made anything out of this. In fact we've turned down hundreds of thousands of pounds being offered by newspapers and television programmes both here and in America."
And what about the future? "I've heard it said that I shouldn't be allowed near children and I find that incredibly hurtful. And there is a little bit of a stigma to it that I feel, almost, that I've lost the right to look at a child . . . I do feel this stigma, but that's something personally that I'll have to get over."