A mother who admitted killing her three young disabled children has had the murder charges against her dropped.
Tania Clarence, 42, from new Malden, south-west London, denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, which was accepted by the Crime Prosecution Service (CPS).
The three children, who all suffered from type 2 spinal muscular atrophy, were found dead at their home on 22 April and Mrs Clarence was soon charged with their murder.
Jim Sturman QC, defending, said that Mrs Clarence was suffering from “an abnormality of mind” when she smothered to death her three-year-old twin sons Ben and Max, and her four-year-old daughter Olivia, before attempting to kill herself.
The prosecution also noted that Mrs Clarence was depressed and suffocated her children with an aim to end their suffering as she could not see any hope in their future.
Mrs Clarence will be sentenced on 14 November, and the defence has asked that she should serve any sentence in hospital.
