Louise Woodward can say what she wants about her innocence, but she can't take away the fact that she was convicted of killing 8-month-old Matthew Eappen, supporters of the child's family said.
In her first in-depth interview since returning to England last week, the former au pair told the British Broadcasting Corp. she was made a scapegoat for the boy's death on Feb. 9, 1997.But Paul Spellman, the baby's uncle, said the 20-year-old already had a chance to tell her story in court. "What she says after that is inconsequential," Spellman said. "Whatever she says is not to be believed, and she's proven that. I hope that people will use their good judgment and not attend to the comments of a convicted killer."
Woodward, who returned to her hometown Thursday, said in the interview broadcast Monday that she was unfairly blamed for the boy's death. "The mentality is that somebody has to pay. You know, and that seemed to be the problem, that, well, if the parents didn't do it, who did? There's only you left," she said.
The baby's parents did not comment immediately, but the attorney representing them, Fredric Ellis, said Woodward "already told her story and was found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury, a judge and seven justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. It is obvious she is now more interested in her celebrity status than the truth."
A spokesman for Middlesex County District Attorney Thomas Reilly, who prosecuted Woodward, declined to comment.