A mother who drowned her two young sons at their home in Dagenham has been jailed for life. Kara Alexander, 47, murdered two-year-old Elijah and five-year-old Marley Thomas in December 2022 by drowning them in the bath.
After their deaths, a post-mortem determined they died as a result of drowning or suffocation. At trial, Alexander claimed that their deaths were accidental after she placed them in the bath and fell asleep. On the weekend of their deaths, their father was due to take them but he became increasingly worried when his messages and calls to his ex were not responded to. He decided to visit the home, where Alexander told him they were sleeping upstairs.
He walked upstairs to see them, and found his sons lying dead next to each other, dressed in pyjamas, in the lower bunk of their shared bed. He ran downstairs screaming “Kara, Kara, Kara. What the f**k? You’ve killed my children.”
The devastated father then ran out of the house to raise the alarm, but when he got downstairs Alexander had run through neighbouring gardens into another street. Emergency responders arrived but were unable to save Elijah and Marley, who had been dead for several hours. Police then launched a manhunt for Alexander, tracking her down about an hour later.
In court, Alexander denied the murder charge. She claimed she was asleep while they were in the bath and they drowned. Kingston Crown Court heard from prosecutors who proved that due to the ages of the boys, they could not have accidentally drowned. The only reasonable explanation for their deaths was that Alexander intervened, causing them to drown.
At Kingston Crown Court today, Mr Justice Bennathan sentenced Alexander to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years and 252 days. Sentencing Alexander, the judge said: “On the evening of the 15th of December 2022, you’d been smoking skunk.
“You’d been doing so every night for weeks, probably much longer. At some stage, both the boys were in their pyjamas ready for bed, with Elijah also wearing his nappy. You drowned them both by your deliberate acts.”
He said he could not reach any conclusion but that in her state at that time she intended to kill the boys, pointing out that she had “unspeakably” held the boys under water for “up to a minute or two”.
“The bath was probably still run from their normal evening routine and I do not think for a moment that your dreadful acts were pre-meditated,” he said.
Samantha Yelland, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Our thoughts remain with Elijah and Marley’s family and friends who have been completely devastated by their loss.
“It is unimaginable to think what those poor children went through in their final moments. It is a parent’s job to keep their children safe and Kara Alexander not only failed to do that, but robbed them of their lives. I hope today’s verdict will provide the family with some closure knowing now that Alexander has been held accountable for their murders.”
After her conviction at the end of February, Detective Chief Inspector Paul Waller, who led the investigation, said: “Our thoughts are with the family, especially the boys’ father who found them dead when he went to collect them for the weekend after Kara Alexander had failed to return his messages.
“No parent should have to go through such a horrific experience, and then have to listen to the detailed evidence highlighting what led up to these events.
“I would also like to praise those who were first on scene – our colleagues and the paramedics – who also experienced this traumatic event first hand.
“This has been a difficult investigation for everyone involved. This guilty verdict cannot turn back the clock but it does provide the children’s family with some form of resolution.”
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