A mother who drowned her two young sons in the bath and left the bodies in a bunk bed for their father to find has been found guilty of murder.
Kara Alexander, 47, killed two-year-old Elijah Thomas and Marley Thomas, 5, in the bath at their home in, Dagenham, east London, in December 2022.
She claimed it was ‘an accident’ but after deliberating for six hours and 54 minutes, the jury at Kingston Crown Court found Alexander guilty of two counts of murder.
Selvin Thomas, who had split up with Alexander three months earlier, was due to have the boys that weekend and was worried as he had not received any messages or calls from Alexander.
When he arrived at their home Alexander, who was wearing a hoodie, said they were upstairs sleeping and slammed the door in his face.
Mr Thomas demanded she open the door and when she did he found ‘a bunch of toys behind it as if barricading the door’, said prosecutor Philip Evans, KC.
He then ran to his sons’ bedroom and found their bodies lying side-by-side on their lower bunk bed. By the time the horrified father ran downstairs Alexander had fled.
She was arrested about an hour later and later claimed she had left the boys in the bath alone while she smoked cannabis.
She admitted two charges of gross negligence manslaughter by breaching the duty of care she owed her sons but the prosecution did not accept her pleas.
She denied but was convicted of two counts of murder by a jury at Kingston Crown Court.
