So desperate to be a mum, she killed a friend to steal her kids

Christine Lyons wanted to be a mum – no matter what the cost

The drinks were flowing and guest of honour Samantha Kelly didn’t have to lift a finger. As soon as her glass was empty, it was whisked away and returned full. She was being thoroughly spoilt by her neighbours.

Samantha, 39, rented a bungalow in the backyard of a home in the suburb of Kangaroo Flat, in Bendigo, Australia, that belonged to Christine Lyons. Christine, now 48, invited Samantha for drinks with Christine’s boyfriend Peter Arthur and their housemate Ronald Lyons, now 46.

Ronald and Christine had once been related through marriage – and they’d also dated at one point in the past. But now Christine was with Peter and the trio lived together.

It was January 2016 and as Samantha chatted away, drinking from her glass, she felt strangely groggy. Looking around, Samantha felt confused and wary, a feeling that had become increasingly familiar to her over the previous months. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what was going on lately, but she knew for certain that something wasn’t right…

Single mum Samantha had moved from Ballarat to Bendigo to start a new life with her four children. She’d had problems with an ex who had been found guilty of assaulting her and she wanted a fresh start.

Samantha, who had some learning difficulties, was easily led and considered vulnerable to some, but she was a loving mum to her kids, aged 11 months, four, five and six. Samantha thought she had found a sanctuary with Christine, who had been generous with her welcome. Christine was unable to have children of her own and seemingly doted on Samantha’s offspring.The truth was Christine was desperate to have kids. She had approached around 10 people asking them if they would have a baby for her. When trusting Samantha turned up, she saw an opportunity to get the family she desperately wanted. If Samantha was gone, there would be four children who would need a new mum – and Christine was more than happy to step in.

Christine told Peter and Ronald that her friend Samantha ‘had to go’.They hatched a plan to kill Samantha so that Christine could take her children.

In January 2016, they invited Samantha over, crushed up drugs and mixed them into her drinks. It was a cocktail of around seven medications, including sedatives, beta-blockers and antihistamines. Some had been prescribed to Christine in the past.

Samantha started to feel the effects of the medications, but the combination wasn’t enough to make her fatally ill. Christine grew frustrated and Samantha grew suspicious. Samantha told her brother over the phone that perhaps it was time she moved on. She said the trio were ‘starting to take over’. Christine had the children in her house more and more – while Samantha felt she was losing control.

Impatient Christine told Peter and Ronald that Samantha had to go on a ‘permanent holiday’ and their plan stepped up a gear. On the night of January 22, or in the early hours of January 23, Peter attacked Samantha and hit her around the head seven times with a hammer. Samantha didn’t stand a chance and the blows were fatal.

Ronald bought two shovels from a hardware store and helped Peter bury Samantha in a dry creek in bushland south-west of Bendigo. Then the three told everyone that Samantha had ‘run off’ with a man in the middle of the night and had left her kids because she didn’t want them. They said she’d started using drugs and had become violent towards her kids. They were terrible lies to discredit her and cover the crime.

The last sighting of Samantha was on January 20 when she was captured on CCTV using a cash point machine. Her disappearance was investigated. Friends, family and