A depressed mother who drowned her ‘miracle’ twins in the bath ‘to punish’ her husband for leaving has been jailed for 10 years. Samantha Ford, 38, of Margate, Kent, killed 23-month-old Jake and Chloe – who were born through IVF – on Boxing Day, last year.
A court heard how after Ford committed the crime, she ‘dressed them, dried them and placed them back in their beds’ with ‘their bodies facing away from each other towards the wall.’
Ford then wrote a suicide note and attempted to kill herself by driving into a lorry at around 100mph hours later in Margate, Kent, heard a court.
When police managed to open the doors of her vehicle, she told them: ‘I’ve killed my babies. Please let me die. ‘I put them in the bath. We were meant to be together. I was going to jump off a cliff but it’s too dark.’
A court heard how Ford had become obsessed with losing her ‘perfect life’ in Qatar, which she had enjoyed with husband Steven. Heartbroken Steven, who attended a hearing at the Old Bailey on Friday, described her actions as the ‘ultimate punishment’.
His wife admitted two counts of manslaughter by diminished responsibility, saying in a letter read to the court: ‘I’m in torment. The fact they are not alive because of me is the hardest part of all.’
Psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph told the court Ford had feelings of ‘anger and betrayal’ towards her estranged husband and ‘wanting revenge’ when she killed their children.
Earlier, prosecutor Tom Kark QC had told how the couple had lived in Qatar for the first 10 years of their marriage but their relationship soured after they left their affluent lifestyle in the Middle East and moved to Charing in Kent in 2018.
Before their split, Ford had told her husband: ‘You have ripped my world apart now we are nothing but a miserable, broken family growing up in a s***hole.’
Relatives said Ford’s mental health declined rapidly following the separation, and she sent multiple text messages to her estranged husband trying to persuade him to return to her, the court heard.
The court heard there had been 76 communications between Ford and mental health services in the weeks before the killings. By Christmas, her family decided that her mental health was so poor that Mr Ford should take the twins and bring them back on Boxing Day, the court heard.
While sentencing her, Judge Andrew Edis QC said she would be transferred to a mental health ward and would serve the rest of her sentence in jail once she is discharged.
He said: ‘You knew it would devastate him and I’m sure that’s one reason why you did it’.
‘The loss of these two young lives is a tragedy which will haunt their father and other members of two families for the rest of their lives. I accept it will also haunt you because you loved the children,’ he added.
‘You decided not to kill yourself and not to jump off the cliff, although that had been your plan. On your journey back from the cliff in your car you decided to drive in to the rear of a truck in a suicide attempt.
He insisted her behaviour was ‘controlled and not impulsive or frenzied’.
‘You had been considering doing this for some time as your google searches demonstrated,’ the judge told her.
Ms Campbell added: ‘At the heart of this case it falls to your lordship to sentence a young mother who has been destroyed by her actions, who has destroyed and devastated family and friends and communities on all sides.
‘Samantha Ford sits before you as a young woman of good character who no-one foresaw would ever be in this situation.’
The QC said her client’s family laughed at her ‘controlling’ tendencies and called her an ‘excellent mother’ and said her actions were ‘entirely independent of what she did on the 26th into the 27th of December.’
A court heard how after Ford committed the crime, she ‘dressed them, dried them and placed them back in their beds’ with ‘their bodies facing away from each other towards the wall.’
Ford then wrote a suicide note and attempted to kill herself by driving into a lorry at around 100mph hours later in Margate, Kent, heard a court.
When police managed to open the doors of her vehicle, she told them: ‘I’ve killed my babies. Please let me die. ‘I put them in the bath. We were meant to be together. I was going to jump off a cliff but it’s too dark.’
A court heard how Ford had become obsessed with losing her ‘perfect life’ in Qatar, which she had enjoyed with husband Steven. Heartbroken Steven, who attended a hearing at the Old Bailey on Friday, described her actions as the ‘ultimate punishment’.
His wife admitted two counts of manslaughter by diminished responsibility, saying in a letter read to the court: ‘I’m in torment. The fact they are not alive because of me is the hardest part of all.’
Psychiatrist Dr Philip Joseph told the court Ford had feelings of ‘anger and betrayal’ towards her estranged husband and ‘wanting revenge’ when she killed their children.
Earlier, prosecutor Tom Kark QC had told how the couple had lived in Qatar for the first 10 years of their marriage but their relationship soured after they left their affluent lifestyle in the Middle East and moved to Charing in Kent in 2018.
Before their split, Ford had told her husband: ‘You have ripped my world apart now we are nothing but a miserable, broken family growing up in a s***hole.’
Relatives said Ford’s mental health declined rapidly following the separation, and she sent multiple text messages to her estranged husband trying to persuade him to return to her, the court heard.
The court heard there had been 76 communications between Ford and mental health services in the weeks before the killings. By Christmas, her family decided that her mental health was so poor that Mr Ford should take the twins and bring them back on Boxing Day, the court heard.
While sentencing her, Judge Andrew Edis QC said she would be transferred to a mental health ward and would serve the rest of her sentence in jail once she is discharged.
He said: ‘You knew it would devastate him and I’m sure that’s one reason why you did it’.
‘The loss of these two young lives is a tragedy which will haunt their father and other members of two families for the rest of their lives. I accept it will also haunt you because you loved the children,’ he added.
‘You decided not to kill yourself and not to jump off the cliff, although that had been your plan. On your journey back from the cliff in your car you decided to drive in to the rear of a truck in a suicide attempt.
He insisted her behaviour was ‘controlled and not impulsive or frenzied’.
‘You had been considering doing this for some time as your google searches demonstrated,’ the judge told her.
Ms Campbell added: ‘At the heart of this case it falls to your lordship to sentence a young mother who has been destroyed by her actions, who has destroyed and devastated family and friends and communities on all sides.
‘Samantha Ford sits before you as a young woman of good character who no-one foresaw would ever be in this situation.’
The QC said her client’s family laughed at her ‘controlling’ tendencies and called her an ‘excellent mother’ and said her actions were ‘entirely independent of what she did on the 26th into the 27th of December.’
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please tell us what you think in the comments....