Hmm... lets see...tell the truth?
I know we disagree, John.
There's no way of knowing whether she was browbeaten into the old bluff that "confessing" to having accidentally killed her in a moment of anger would be far better than being charged with murder: a short sentence, two other young children at home who could stay with their dad, etc.
It may seem illogical for an innocent person to confess to a crime that they haven't committed, but these things happen. The conditions of her interrogation aren't clear at all. How long was she interrogated for that time? Was a lawyer present that entire time, or did she turn up once the "confession" had been extracted?
Was she mistreted during that time? "Roughed up", but chose not to say anything, believing the PJ that "confessing" to the lower charge was the best option? Deprived of sleep and "confessing" just to get the interrogation to stop?
There is the possibility that she really did confess voluntarily, of course. And we all know of cases of child abuse and even murder at the hand of parents, sadly.
However, there doesn't appear to be anything to substantiate it - it wasn't until many years later (after the McCann saga) that there was even a recommendation to audio record arguido interviews, and it's just a recommendation, and not even a video recording. At what point did her status change from being interviewed as a witness (no right at the time to a lawyer) and an arguida?
And then there is the issue that there was no concrete evidence to support what she is alleged to have "confessed" to... Plus the fact that the PJ watchdog had undertaken an investigation and, as a result, undertook disciplinary action against at least one of the officers (if not more, but such details are difficult to come by), and this way before the torture trial concerning a later interrogation.
At the very least, the conviction appears unsafe (IMO) for a whole host of reasons, and that includes public outrage over what the tabloid-reading public assumed were "facts" prior to trial, despite the so-called judicial secrecy, as presented in the pro-PJ tabloids.