New Malden children found dead, mother arrested

A secure MH facility to support her Grannyknot. She may be a suicide risk, and certainly needs to be kept safe. I'm with others who hope she is moved out of the prison and into a more appropriate secure setting until more is understood about her mental health. Just awful for her husband and their older daughter, so sad.

I wonder how much support she was getting up to this point! The pressures on her must have been horrendous and that together with a lack of sleep could well have been the end of the road for her

But that begs the question, why a secure MH facility? She's not going to do it again.

Here, here.

There are laws concerning infanticide that recognise a woman's potential for depression or psychosis following childbirth. It would be good to feel that there could be some similar compassion exercised here. There is no way that this mother could have taken these actions if the balance of her mind had not been disturbed. Whilst the taking of lives has to be treated as a serious matter, we can only hope that some similar compassion will be exercised here. None of us can know what we might be capable of in these distressing circumstances. I agree with Brenda that a secure mental health facility might be more appropriate.

It felt medieval yesterday when I read about her sobbing in the dock and her husband crying in the public gallery

I am quite surprised she has not been remanded into forensic mental health care. Hopefully she will be next week. She will have the added burden, however, of not having access to her surviving child for probably a long time.

The saddest story I have ever heard I think the poor woman must have been right on the edge to do such a thing,I do hope she receives the care and compassion she needs.

Very, very sad. I agree with everything that has been said

I do wonder ,as I have no knowledge of the legal system, if charging the Mother with murder is the only way to proceed at this stage.It is a very hard thing for the whole family to face while grieving for the three children.Let us hope she gets the help that we ,as parents,feel she needs.

Deedaa, I agree. The newspaper said yesterday that the woman was being held in custody. I think there is a bail hearing next week, and the case will eventually be heard in the Old Bailey.

She fell pregnant with the twins very quickly, before the slightly older child had been diagnosed, only for the parents then to discover that the twins had the same genetic condition.

I wish there was an alternative to the whole Court process in cases like this.

I'm so glad that we all have such sympathy for the Mother, we are women so understand that other women rarely 'murder' their own children, and when they do, there is usually either a good reason or a mental health reason behind it.These tragedies happen from time to time.

My thoughts are with the mother now, who must be aware that she has, in the eyes of the law, committed murder, but perhaps feels that at least her children are 'safe' and if they were suffering, will no longer do so. She must be totally exhausted, because no amount of special equipment and organisation of life can take away the constant strain of caring for a disabled child, and the on-going worry for their future, however short that picture is. No excuse really, but an understandable reason.

I don't know how long the family have been living here, but added to everything else, she would probably not have had a family support system .

The media state 'life limiting disabilities'. I wonder how bad and how near the end the children were.

Poor, poor woman. Poor, poor husband and child. I hope they all get the support they need.

I echo everyone else's comments.

It must be hard enough to cope with a four year old and three year old twins, without having the added pain of their disabilities. I don't know if I could bear watching my children struggling with this and knowing things were only going to worsen for them. Poor children, poor mother, poor family.

It seems dreadful to see it referred to as murder. I'm sure that whatever happened it will have been far different from a cold blooded murder.

It is just very sad and I know what BrendaW means by saying "their reasoning makes a sort of sense" when a parent explains.

The poor mother. I expect she reached the ,straw that broke the camels back, stage and just shattered. Absolutely dreadful for everyone.
When I worked in forensic psychiatry and listened to mothers who had killed a child or children often their reasoning for the act made a sort of sense.
I think she will spend the rest of her life punishing herself. I grieve for them all.

Crossedanno

It is an awful tragedy. The poor mother must have come to the end of her reserves of coping if the media stories are true. Google news said the Father and the other child were in South Africa at the time, what dreadful news for them.

The oldest child has been away in South Africa with her father. What a situation for them to return to.

They just said 'The other child is unharmed'....but what is she going to have to live with? !!