Mother accused of killing children in Spain 'wrote confession note'

A British mother accused of killing her two young children in a Spanish hotel room allegedly wrote a note confessing to the crime.


By Fiona Govan in Lloret de Mar and Gordon Rayner
Published: 11:57AM BST 19 May 2010

Lianne Smith, 43, is said to have smothered her five-year-old daughter Rebecca and 11-month-old son Daniel days after her husband was arrested on child sex offences.

The children were found dead on Tuesday afternoon at the Miramar hotel in the resort of Lloret de Mar, 50 miles from Barcelona, after Mrs Smith told staff to call an ambulance.

Police had been seeking Mrs Smith's husband, Martin Anthony Smith, 45, for two years after he failed to turn up for a court appearance in January 2008 charged with a series of child sex offences.

Mrs Smith was reported missing in December 2007 and police believe she had been living on the Costa Brava with Mr Smith since then.

Martin Smith, originally from North Shields, Tyneside, had lived with his wife in Carlisle, Cumbria, for several years, where he claimed to be a professional medium and had appeared on the TV show Most Haunted.

He is understood to be the father of Daniel, but Rebecca Smith was fathered by another man who is understood to have flown to Spain to to formally identify his daughter’s body.

Mrs Smith called the reception desk at the hotel at lunchtime on Tuesday to say: "Call an ambulance and the police."

When the hotel staff asked why she needed the emergency services, she reportedly replied: "You will see."

Police found the bodies lying on the beds of the triple room, carefully covered with a blanket.

Paramedics who arrived with an ambulance were unable to revive them.

The respected national newspaper El Pais quoted local police sources claiming Mrs Smith had confessed to killing her children.

A worker at the hotel said the two officers brought her down from the room and sat her in reception. The worker said: "She looked very serious, cold."

Martin Smith was arrested on May 7 and deported back to Britain to answer charges of rape, gross indecency, indecent assault and attempted rape, all relating to children under the age of 16 and dating between 1995 and 2005.

Mr Smith appeared before Carlisle magistrates this morning, where he was remanded in custody.

Speaking outside the court, a police spokeswoman said: "Forty- five-year-old Martin Smith was brought back to the UK on Tuesday, May 18.

"He appeared in Carlisle Magistrates Court this morning to face 13 charges of sexual offences and for failing to answer police bail.

"An application was made in court for him to be remanded in custody.

"During the court hearing it was disclosed that Spanish Police have informed Cumbria Constabulary that Martin Smith’s wife, 43-year-old Lianne Smith, has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of his two children Rebecca, 5, and Daniel, 11 months, in Spain.

"Lianne and Rebecca had been missing from the Staffordshire area since December 2007.

"We are saddened by these tragic events and are supporting members of the extended family in Cumbria.

"Mr Smith was remanded in custody pending his next appearance in court."

Mrs Smith had checked into the £53-a-night four-star hotel on Saturday with the two youngsters, which she reserved in advance, and paid in advance for four nights.

Police have not ruled out the possibility that the children had been drugged before they were killed and have searched the hotel and the bins outside it for medication that might have been taken by the mother or the children.

After her arrest she was taken back to the hotel in handcuffs, wearing jeans and a white top, where she explained to officers exactly what had happened.

She spent around two hours in the hotel before being taken back to the police station.

A French family staying in the room above, on the second floor, said they saw the two children playing on the balcony on Monday.

They said the mother ordered them to go back inside. But they heard nothing out of the ordinary on the afternoon the children died.

The Frenchman, staying in the resort with his wife and a baby, said: "We saw her on Tuesday morning. She was pale and had bags under her eyes. She looked bad.

"The previous day we'd been struck by the fact her daughter spent a lot of time playing alone on the balcony, which is not a place to leave such a small girl."

The woman is said to have been seen in the resort in the company of a man, who officers are trying to find in case he can shed any light on the deaths, Diari de Girona reported. He is not a suspect.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/7740069/Mother-accused-of-killing-children-in-Spain-wrote-confession-note.html