Mum drowned twins in bath
‘materialistic’ mum drowned her ‘miracle’ IVF twins in the bath after her husband left her, a court heard.
Emotionally controlling Samantha Ford, 38, who killed 23-month-old twins Jake and Chloe at their Margate home on Boxing Day last year, did not want to leave the couple’s lavish lifestyle in Qatar, the
Old Bailey was told on Friday. The court heard Ford sent a message on Christmas Day, telling someone: “I just need to end. I just need something to strike him to make him know what he’s doing.”
Hours after submerging her children and putting their lifeless bodies in the bedroom, she drove into the back of a lorry on the A299 between Herne Bay and Whitstable without wearing a seatbelt and told officers: “Just let me die” and “I killed my babies. I would never hurt them, they are my miracle babies.”
Ford previously admitted two counts of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
In the weeks leading up to last Christmas, Ford’s health had ‘deteriorated’ and she had Google searched methods of suicide and murder, the court was told.
An examination of her phone revealed she had searched “how long does it take to drown someone” less than two hours before the children were killed. Ford married husband Steven in 2008 and they moved to
Qatar where they enjoyed an “affluent” and “lavish” lifestyle.
She became pregnant with twins after IVF treatment, giving birth to Jake and
Chloe in 2017. In 2018, the family moved back to the UK to a house in Charing, near Ashford..
Ed Brown QC, prosecuting, said: “We suggest there is evidence she was a materialistic person in the sense she resented losing her good lifestyle in Qatar.”
The court heard Ford’s “downturn in mental health” appeared to be triggered when her husband left her last November.
She is due to be sentenced after more psychiatric evidence is heard on August 16.