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Despite her admissions, the NSW Supreme Court last month found Tracey Lee Pratt, 43, not guilty of murdering Ken and Margaret Keyte, on the grounds of mental illness.

For Gary and Karen Keyte, the words “not guilty” were a hard pill to swallow.

“Tracey admitted she did it, it’s all there in the judgement, and yet they use the words, ‘not guilty’,” Karen said.

“We want to see the law change, to allow for a ruling of ‘guilty’ on the grounds of mental illness.”

Although the finding angered and confused many shire residents, Karen and Gary believe justice was served.

“It is a far more difficult process for her to gain release this way,” Karen said.

The couple says, with good behaviour, a murder conviction could have seen Pratt released in 14 years. However, her release under the Mental Health Review Tribunal is far more involved.

Every six months, Ken and Margaret’s family are able to fight to keep Pratt behind bars.

“We have been led to believe that the odds of her getting out are very slim, but you can never say never,” Karen said. “This way we are able to drive home what she’s done to our family, every six months.”

Karen describes Christmas as an “horrific” time for her family.

“Margaret’s birthday was on December 1 and Ken’s is January 2, so it’s all just there together,” she said.

However, guidance from a Queanbeyan support group for victims of homicide has helped.

“There are days where I still stop and think, ‘how did we get here?’. But we had to let go of that anger because we refuse to be victims too.”

Next year Karen and Gary will lobby for change within the State’s mental health system.

“There are families who desperately want help for their loved ones,” Karen said. “We have to work together to make it happen or nothing will change.”

In his judgement, Justice Robert Allan Hulme said Pratt’s mental health deteriorated after her grandparents died in 1999.

In 2006 she began to make homicidal threats and was admitted to the Chisholm Ross Centre at Goulburn, where she was found to be “overtly psychotic”.

She was prescribed medication and detained as an involuntary patient until January 2007, when she was discharged and placed on a Community Treatment Order under the Mental Health Act.

She was required to take medication and attend the Batemans Bay Community Mental Health Service each fortnight. However, just four months later, a consultant psychiatrist took her off the Community Treatment Order and approved a slow reduction in her medication. By August, Pratt’s file was closed.

“The system let Tracey down,” Karen said.

“It must be absolutely devastating for her family. She was a wife, and a mother, and now they’ve lost her too.”