No, We Are Not All Lindsay Clancy
Some of us feel more like Patrick: helpless in the presence of unstable women
Janice Fiamengo, Sep 04, 2026
The only thing more striking than the adulation that has erupted in response to Lindsay Clancy’s admitted killing of her three children has been the torrent of anger and suspicion poured out against then-husband Patrick Clancy.
I can’t think of a single example, recent or historical, in which a bereaved mother, her children dead at her ex-husband’s hand, has been subject to anything other than profound sympathy.
It’s not uncommon for such mothers to become revered public figures, campaigning for changes in law or public opinion, and applauded for their “courage” in picking up the pieces of their lives.
One such is Claire Throssell, a British mother whose ex-husband killed their two sons and himself in 2014 by setting their house afire. No one has publicly speculated that Throssell drove her ex-husband to the deed. No one alleged that police should have more closely investigated her actions on the days leading up to the crime.
Throssell, in fact, was centrally involved in a successful feminist campaign to rewrite UK custody law in order to change the presumption that it is generally good for children to have contact with both parents after divorce. The new legislation, not yet formalized, will mean that even fewer divorced fathers will be able to maintain close contact with their children.