Kimberley needs help, not threats

ANYONE driven to contemplate suicide needs help, not punishment.

But that’s the threat hanging over vulnerable Kimberley Macfarlane.

Twice she has been on the brink of jumping to her death or serious injury from a motorway bridge.

Yet incredibly, a sheriff yesterday gave her what was effectively a three-strikes-and-you’re-out warning.

If Kimberley finds herself perched on a bridge parapet once more, she now has two options.

Either go through with it and fling herself to her doom, or she’s going to jail.

Sheriff Craig McSherry told Kimberley if she-reoffends, a custodial sentence may well be imposed.

Her behaviour had forced road closures and caused traffic jams until she could be talked down.

And Sheriff McSherry said that in the event of any repeat episode, with Kimberley behind bars at least the public won’t be inconvenienced.

That assertion appears to display a callous indifference to the poor woman’s plight.

Dreadful misfortune has befallen this once keen footballer.

A simple broken nose, suffered during a match, saw her develop a crippling condition which means she can no longer urinate.

Fowler’s Syndrome, which affects only one woman in a million, has stripped Kimberley of her playing career and her dignity.

Perhaps Sheriff McSherry believes he was doing the right thing by shaking her up.

But if so, we doubt he’s medically qualified to make that judgment.

Kimberley doesn’t need shock treatment but sympathy and support.