Zoe Miller - 13 year old girl who 'fell' from a bridge

at 11:45pm she was out, alone, after her parents had gone to bed, and was climbing on the wall of a bridge in the dark when she 'fell' off the bridge into the path of a train. A terrible sad death.

But I ask should the parents be prosecuted for this? They have admitted that it wasn't unusual for their child to go out so late at night and often even later, alone and without them having a clue where she went. The reason? She had a lot of energy that she needed to burn off. Are parents who go to bed at night and allow their young child to then leave the house alone and do whatever the hell she wants in the middle of the night guilty of negligence? In my opinion they are. They knew that she left the house while they were in bed and didn't stop her. This ultimately lead to a child's death.

 

Why the emphasis on "fell"?

 

I think the guilt they feel will hopefully last them the rest of their lives, no need for the nanny state to waste public money on some witch hunt. I agree that anyone who lets their 13 year old daughter wonder the streets like that is an idiot, and I have a 13 year old so I should know, but lets not start "prosecuting" parents for being stupid, better that we teach them to be good parents so sh@t like this doesn't happen in the first place.

 

Because there was speculation that maybe she didn't fall from the bridge as there were no witnesses and all the police know is that she didn't fall from the bridge itself but rather from the parapet of the bridge where she must have climbed to with seemingly no reason.

 

I disagree, I don't believe that simply saying 'oh well they've lost enough' is a good enough reason to allow people to get away with things. If we did that we would stop prosecuting drink drivers who right their car off because they've already lost their car.

When this kind of thing happens people often focus on the fact that the parents are suffering but they forget that the real victim is dead and that by allowing the parents to go unprosecuted out of sympathy they are advocating there being no justice for the real victim. Lets face it, at the end of the day this is the exact same reason why the McCanns received no punishment at all for their disgusting behaviour which led to (most likely) an innocent child's death.

It's interesting that if an adult is babysitting a child totally unrelated to them and their negligence leads to that child's death then people believe they need to be punished but if it is a parent causing the death of their own child then they get away with it out of sympathy. Doesn't work like that in my opinion, the parents aren't victims, the innocent child is.

Just my opinion like.

 

Fair enoug, was a genuine question.

 

And a genuine reply. The police have concluded that she most likely fell and they have no evidence to suggest that something else happened although with the obvious question of why would she be on a parapet in the middle of nowhere alone there is bound to be speculation as to whether something else happened. Fell? Jumped? Pushed?

 

I tend to agree, they are at least partially culpable in her death. It's about time that poor parents were made to take some responsibility for their offspring and their actions. The parents in this case let their daughter down and their actions, or lack of, cost her her life. So sad but so avoidable.

 

Report I've just read said she went out at 6am and slipped from the bridge under the wheels of the train 100yds from her garden.

Bit different from walking the streets all night etc. At her age I and a girl from down the road were out doing paper rounds at 6am unaccompanied near railway bridges.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4278367/Zoe-13-killed-in-fall-from-railway-bridge.html

 

If they hand cuff her to the bed at night they'll be even more do gooders coming out of the wood work,

how do you stop a 13 year old doing what the **** they like ? in my day mi dad would have knocked the ***** out of me, what can mums and dads do these day, pretty pretty please don't go out at night, and if you do we'll have to have a "talk", yeah i bet 13 year olds all over the place are shiting them self at the thought of a having to have a "talk", kids do what they want these days and theres nothing anyone can do about it

 

Do you have any kids?
Honest question, not being funny or anything.

 

That's a report in the sun though so you shouldn't be surprised that they've got it wrong as usual.

She couldn't possibly have merely slipped from the bridge as there are high walls on the bridge, she fell from the parapet of the bridge and hit the late night train as it passed at 23:45 while her parents slept. Her body was found at 6am the next morning on the traintracks where it had laid all night. And while yes it was fairly close to their home (2 streets away), I don't think that is the point at all as a 13 year old child should not be climbing on bridges over railway lines in the middle of the night while her parents are tucked up in bed.

 

So you're saying that children can do whatever they want to and parents have absolutely no responsibilty for them anymore?

My parents never hit me but I did what I was told because if I didn't I knew I'd be in trouble. That doesn't require physical violence, it requires good parenting.

 

I never hit my girls who are 13 and 15, I did when they were under 10. But we have an atmsophere in the house thaty they will chuffin well do as they are bloody well told or else. We are not the exception, most parents I know have the same attitude. Yes, I also know some who want to be "friends" with their kids and let them get away with murder. But a lot of parents don't fit the daily mail stereotype and do rule their households. Anyone can keep their 13 year old under control if they really want to.

 

Well said.

My parents controlled me by telling me what to do and if I disobeyed them i'd be in trouble. I wouldn't be beaten within an inch of my life but I wouldn't be getting a new computer game either or going out with my mates. I wouldn't be watching sky movies either, i'd be in my room doing my homework after getting a good telling off. My mate on the other hand could tell his mum to **** off and her response was just to tut as he walked out of the house. He's a drug addict now with 5 kids.

 

How do you punish kids that have nothing to lose then ? if they don't get pocket money and computer games what do you take from um if they don't want to do as there told what do you do ?

 

At the end of the day, you have to point the finger of blame at someone. And more often than not, that someone is Scott Wiseman.

So I'm going to say Scott Wiseman. Am I right?

 

You hit them, obviously. Hard. With a brick. A lot. Til they bleed.

 

You ground them so they can't go out with their mates.

 

I think you may be onto something.