EastEnders star ‘killed after decision to leave’
AFORMER EastEnders actress and her two young sons were brutally battered and stabbed to death by her partner after she decided to leave him, a court has heard.
Arthur Simpson Kent killed Sian Blake, 43, and their sons, Zachary, eight, and four-yearold Amon, in the family home before burying their bodies in the back garden.
The Old Bailey was told that Ms Blake, the family’s main breadwinner, had recently been diagnosed with terminal motor neurone disease.
This, along with her “unhealthy” relationship with Simpson Kent, led her to plan to take the children and move back in with her mother.
The court heard that Ms Blake’s condition had weakened her arms and hands to the extent that she would not have been able to fight off an attacker.
Mark Heywood QC, prosecuting, told the court that Simpson Kent had carried out the premeditated attack on three victims who had been “unable to defend themselves” after becoming aware of Ms Blake’s plan.
Medical examinations showed all three victims had been hit on the head and then stabbed in the neck or throat.
Mr Heywood said: “The evidence suggests, and this much is not disputed, that, on the night of December 14 2015, the defendant killed each of them in turn with heavy, deliberate, repeated blows with a blunt instrument not since recovered – and then by cutting and stabbing them with a bladed weapon in a way that ensured their deaths.
“He then covered his crimes by moving, wrapping and burying each of them, cleaning and partially painting his home.
“He misled friends, family and the police, among others, as to what he had done and where his partner and children had gone.”
Bloodstains belonging to Ms Blake and the two boys were later found at the bungalow, before their bodies were discovered outside.
Members of Ms Blake’s family wept in court as the case was opened in front of a packed public gallery.