Clutching candles, wearing yellow ribbons, and vowing to stay up all night to pray for her release from prison in Massachusetts, the supporters of Louise Woodward took to the streets around her hometown in Cheshire yesterday. Before Judge Hiller Zobel's announcement that he would not make a decision on Woodward's future in the coming days, supporters chanting, "What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now", walked through the small village of Elton. They passed by Woodward's home before stopping outside her former school, Elton Primary, where some of the pupils were allowed out of their classes to show their support for the campaign.
Around the village, the reaction to the judge's decision was mixed. Some supporters have no doubt that Woodward is innocent and should be released immediately. Others would prefer if she agreed to a lesser charge of manslaughter.
Many of the residents had elected to show their solidarity with the Woodward campaign with permanent symbols. Large posters calling for "Justice for Louise" have been attached to window frames and there are yellow ribbons everywhere.
The yellow ribbon has also been adopted by the Sun newspaper, which launched an appeal fund to campaign for her release following the guilty verdict last week.
However, the Sun's call on the trial judge to "free her today" seems to have opened up a debate in the British press about the jingoistic nature of the criticism aimed at the US legal system. In the Evening Standard yesterday, one columnist lambasted Sun readers for comparing the US to Nazi Germany.
British people supporting Louise Woodward now had a chance to express the "resentment" they felt towards the US as a result of years of cultural closeness and dependence. The case allowed Britain to "seize the moral high ground which the Americans have annoyingly occupied over Northern Ireland: British justice may mistreat IRA suspects but Americans are unjust to nannies", the Evening Standard concluded.
Earlier in the day in Elton, in the Rigger pub, which has become an impromptu campaign headquarters for viewing the court proceedings in the US, the atmosphere was predictably tense. A local woman, Ms Rose Russell, said everyone was feeling very nervous.
"Today must feel just like it did when they, the Woodwards, were waiting for the jury's verdict - it must be horrible to go through that once again. Our strength of feeling as a group is keeping us going. We are sticking together to help each other through this," Ms Russell said.