LIANNE SMITH, the British woman accused of murdering her two children in a Spanish hotel room, admitted suffocating them with plastic bags, according to court documents released in Spain.
Rebecca (five) and Daniel (11 months) were discovered at Lloret de Mar, a resort on Spain’s Costa Brava on Tuesday – the same day Ms Smith’s husband, Martin Smith, was extradited to Britain to face child sex abuse charges.
Ms Smith (43) appeared in court in Spain yesterday. In documents released after the hearing, the magistrate said she had pleaded guilty to killing both children. She is to be held in prison until she attends trial.
“Ms Smith spontaneously declared that she had killed her two children,” magistrate Rafael Fernandez said. “She admitted ending their lives by suffocating them after putting a plastic bag over their heads.”
A spokeswoman for the Catalan higher judicial council said the magistrate had not asked for her to be sent to a psychiatric ward, adding that she had been examined by a doctor shortly after the children’s bodies were discovered and had been declared of sound enough mind to give evidence.
Ms Smith faces a prison sentence of 15 to 20 years.
Ms Smith and her husband fled the UK in 2007 with their daughter Rebecca after he was accused of child sex offences. They are believed to have gone to Costa Brava and then to Barcelona.
The magistrate confirmed Ms Smith had been worried, following the arrest of her husband and his extradition, that her two children would be taken from her. – ( Guardianservice)