A mother who killed her 23-month-old twin son and daughter will no longer face a murder trial, a court heard today.
Samantha Ford, 38, admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility following the deaths of toddlers Jake and Chloe and the prosecution accepted her plea today.
Her husband Steven made his first public appearance today since the devastating deaths as he arrived at the Old Bailey and was flanked by supporters in the court.
His wife had been involved in a smash with a lorry on the London-bound carriageway of the A299 Thanet Way in Kent shortly before 3am on December 27.
When rescuers arrived, she told them to check her home in Westwood, near Margate, because her babies were there.
Police found the dying infants inside and paramedics tried to save them, but they were pronounced dead at hospital.
Ford, of Westwood, later admitted she had drowned the children after the breakdown of her marriage. They are thought to have died on Boxing Day.
Ford was excused from the today’s hearing when prosecutor Edward Brown QC confirmed the Crown Prosecution Service had accepted her pleas to manslaughter.
‘My Lord gave the prosecution time on the last occasion to consider whether the pleas entered on the last occasion were acceptable to the Crown,’ he told the judge.
‘We, that is the prosecution team, have considered all the reports and all of the facts of this case very carefully. It is a case of great sensitivity, as My Lord will appreciate.
‘We have taken instructions from those instructing me and the father of the deceased children, who has of course been consulted in respect of this case, and the result of those consultations, advice and instructions given to me are that those pleas are acceptable and the Crown does not ask for a trial in respect of the two counts of murder.’
Mr Justice Edis adjourned sentencing to July 26, when he will consider a disposal under the mental health act.
The senior judge accepted the prosecution’s decision, saying the reasons would become ‘obvious’ at the next hearing.
Ford is understood to have moved to the rented house after purchasing a home with Mr Ford, her husband of five years, in nearby Ashford 12 months earlier.
Mr Ford sat in the well of the court flanked by a number of supporters during the hearing today.
He has posted a series of pictures of the children on Twitter since their death, describing them as his ‘beautiful babies’.
After the killings he tweeted: ‘Daddy’s twins xxx my beautiful babies. I love you.’
DailyMail
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.