Mother who killed her twin son and daughter will not face murder trial after court sees psychiatric reports

A mother who killed her toddler twins will no longer face a murder trial, the Old Bailey heard today.



Samantha Ford, 38, killed 23-month-old twin son Jake, and daughter Chloe last December. She drowned the children at home after the breakdown of her marriage. Afterwards, she drove out of her home and was involved in an accident with a lorry. The crash took place 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. When police checked the home, they found the dying infants inside and paramedics tried to save them, but they were pronounced dead at hospital.

Ford is understood to have moved to the rented house where her children were killed after purchasing a home with Steven Ford, her husband of five years, in nearby Ashford 12 months earlier.



Samantha later admitted she had drowned the children. She admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility and the prosecution accepted her plea today.



Samantha was excused from the today's hearing when prosecutor Edward Brown QC confirmed the Crown Prosecution Service had accepted her pleas to manslaughter.



The prosecutor 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.



Mr Ford sat in the well of the court flanked by a number of supporters during the hearing today.

The grieving father has posted a series of pictures of the children on Twitter since their death.



After the killings he tweeted: "Daddy's twins xxx my beautiful babies. I love you."