Claims of hearing voices

Three psychiatrists appeared in court to determine Ford’s mental state.

Consultant psychiatrist Philip Joseph told the court that her poor mental health was a “significant contributory factor” in the killings and that while in hospital, she wanted to know that her husband was suffering too.

Arguing her culpability for her crimes was “medium”, Dr Joseph said: “My opinion was that the abnormality of mental functioning was a significant contributory factor.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that the illness was moderate severity. The abnormality of mental functioning is a depressive illness of at least moderate severity.

“She was quite fixated about Steven Ford while in hospital, wanting to know he was suffering as well.

“I think more important and influencing my opinion is his [Steven Ford] impact statement itself. I think that has to be taken into account, his perception of why she did this is important.

“Unless the courts decide he was being vindictive in that statement - an impression I did not get.”

Consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Muzaffar Hussain told the hearing Ford made up claims of hearing voices telling her to kill her children.

He said: “What we find is what she’s most regretful about is losing that perfect life, a perfect life with Steve in Qatar. A perfect life with her miracle children. The perfect house.

“It’s the loss of that that she grieves. I don’t think she’s grieving for the children yet, I think she’s grieving for the loss of her life. In my view she had depressive symptoms at the time.

“However, at the same time she was very wounded narcissistically by Mr Ford’s departure from the family home and how her perfect life, which she felt was perfect in every way, was taken away from her.

Dr Hussain said Ford’s claims she “heard a male voice telling her to kill the children” was an “embellishment”.

He said: “In my opinion the self report of voices is embellishment. I am not denying she’s ill, but I think there’s a wish by her to appear more severely ill than she is.”

However, defence expert witness Gillian Mezey, a professor of psychiatry, said Ford had developed a severe “depressive illness”.

She told the court: “My understanding is that the impulse, the thought about killing her children was something that only occurred very shortly before the children’s death.

“I concluded that she had developed a depressive illness, I felt that it was severe in nature.”

She answered “no” when asked if she believed “anger” or “a wish to punish Steven Ford played a role in any way,” and added: “What I’m saying is that the illness has led her to acting entirely out of character.”

Arguing anger and depression were “two sides of the same coin”, Prof Mezey added: “She was angry, she was hurt, she was resentful, she was confused, there were lots of emotions at the time, but the over-riding factor was her depressive disorder.

“A lot of the secondary emotions were there because she was depressed.

“I certainly have not seen