Witches up and down the country will be putting away their pointy hats and trading their brooms in for a Dyson. Their reputations have been dragged through the mud in the past - usually tethered to the back of a speeding cart with torch wielding villagers baying for their blood - but even warty-faced old hags can only take so much.

Now with the revelation that baby-buyer Judith Kilshaw counts herself among their number, spell-casters across the nation will have ditched their usual dowdy garb, popped on a nice flowery frock and got themselves down their local job centre in search of a new line of work, as a doctor's receptionist perhaps.

Not even the Wicked Witch of the West (that's the West Midlands of course) would want to be associated with this mistress of the black arts.

Kilshaw gives witches a bad name. Her constant attempts to justify her abhorrent actions and her deluded efforts to win over the public were obscene enough, but now her headline-seeking cries of "oh, and did I mention that I'm a witch too" have put the tasteless icing on an already inedible cake.

Kilshaw is an attention-seeker of the worst kind: not only is she willing to sacrifice herself for a crass headline and an unflattering snapshot on the front page of a newspaper, she is also willing to sacrifice the private lives of her children - including the four she didn't pay cold hard cash for.

James, Rupert, Louisa and Caley are stuck with her as a mother whether they like it or not, but the fate of her two-for-the-price-of-one twins, Kimberley and Belinda, looks likely to be decided by the High Court.

But what about her husband, you may well be saying, shouldn't he shoulder his share of the blame? And what of the natural mother and the adoption "facilitator" - shouldn't their actions also be held up for public scrutiny?

The answer to both questions is of course a resounding yes.

Alan Kilshaw, a spokesman for the right-wing, "send 'em back to where they came from" Democratic Party, is as much to blame for this debacle as his so-called better half, but he has managed so far to stop himself from proudly declaring that not only is he morally suspect, he is also the Wizard of Oz (or should that be the Wizard of Odd?).

Tranda Wecker, a mother-of-five who thought she would be a more attractive catch if she off-loaded her youngest daughters, and Tina Johnson, a baby broker preying on the desperate and the deluded, have also not exactly covered themselves with glory by their actions, but at least they have expressed a degree of shame and regret.

Whether their expressions are sincere remains to be seen.

Johnson in particular has a long way to go before she shakes off her money-grabbing image as a woman who would crowbar her way through her own ribs if she suspected she had a heart of gold, but at least she has had the good sense to go into hiding.

Kilshaw, however, continues her public tirade against the adoption agencies, the Government, the law and anyone else with the good sense to believe she waived her right to call herself a fit mother when she handed over a wad of notes for two baby girls.

Through her many appearances on our television screens and the endless interviews she has given to the press, she has shown no shame and no regret and has even attempted to portray herself as some sort of martyr.

It was only a matter of time before she began blaming the press for ruining her life - conveniently forgetting that she approached The Sun with the story, then happily paraded her family before the cameras and then took the decision to share her love of the occult with the readers of the News Of The World.

As a witch, you think she would have known that if you sell your soul to the devil you run the risk of getting burned.