Mother cries uncontrollably as court hears how she smothered disabled children with nappy

A mother wept uncontrollably in the dock as a court heard details of how she smothered her twin sons with a nappy before killing their older sister.

Tania Clarence, 43, appeared at the Old Bailey today after admitting killing Olivia, four, and three-year-old Ben and Max at the family home in New Malden, south west London in April.

The prosecution told the court that Ms Clarence took the opportunity to "end the lives of her three disabled children" before trying to kill herself when her husband Gary took their eight-year-old daughter on holiday to South Africa.

All three of the children suffered from the life-limiting condition SMA type 2 which leaves children with a weakness in their muscle, preventing them from standing unaided.

Around four days after her husband left, Clarence "smothered the boys first whilst they were sleeping using a nappy so they would not smell her".

"She found it much harder to kill Olivia, and wrote a letter to her husband in the time between killing the boys and killing Olivia," Zoe Johnson QC said.

After 20 minutes of listening to details of the case, Clarence became too upset and was excused by the judge.

Her husband and other family members remained in the court as further details were disclosed.

The deaths were discovered by the family nanny after she was contacted by Clarence's mother who had been unable to contact her daughter.

The nanny, accompanied by her friend and a pastor, found Clarence in her bedroom with blood on her wrists.

Her friend then opened the door to the twins' bedroom to discover their dead bodies with toys near their heads.

"It was such a grotesque sight Mr Magagnin could not bring himself to look for Olivia as he was instructed to do by the emergency operator," Ms Johnson told the court.

By the time police arrived at the property, the man who discovered the bodies became hysterical as he pointed the officer towards the scene.

Clarence handed her nanny a letter, saying: "I'm so sorry I had to do this but I could not carry on. I also could not leave the children with Gary. It would have been too much for him.

"You have been such an amazing person in our lives over the last few years. Without you I most likely would have done this a lot sooner."

Had the Clarences known the twins would suffer from SMA type 2 before they were born prematurely, they would have agreed to abort the pregnancy, the court heard.

Last month, the Crown Prosecution Service accepted her guilty plea to the manslaughter of the three children by reason of diminished responsibility.

Mr Justice Sweeney is expected to hand her a hospital order on a later date.