Mother who 'robbed' young sons, two and five, of life after 'murdering pair in family bathtub' jailed for life
by Danielle de Wolfe · LBCBy Danielle de Wolfe
A mother who murdered her two young sons has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
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Kara Alexander, 47, of Dagenham, east London, was found guilty of murdering Elijah Thomas, two, and Marley Thomas, five, in the bath at their home in Cornwallis Road in December 2022.
Appearing on Friday at Kingston Crown Court, Mr Justice Bennathan sentenced Alexander to life imprisonment for the boys' deaths.
A post-mortem determined the children had died as a result of drowning or suffocation, the court heard.
At trial, Alexander claimed that their deaths were accidental and came after she fell asleep after placing them in the bath.
The court heard how their father was due to look after the two children on the weekend of their deaths, but became increasingly worried when his messages and calls to his ex went unanswered.
After Alexander failed to respond to his texts, the children's father paid a visit to the home where she lived.
There, the court heard, he found Alexander, who claimed the boys were sleeping upstairs.
He walked upstairs to find his sons, dressed in pyjamas, lying on the lower bunk of their shared bed.
Prosecutor Philip Evans KC told the court: "They had the duvet up to their shoulders, only their faces were visible.
"He touched Marley’s face, on his right cheek, and he was freezing cold and hard.
"He knew immediately that they were dead."
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) set out how the ambulance service and police were then called, but there was nothing that could be done to save them.
After finding their bodies, the father returned downstairs to call for help, but Alexander had fled.
It took the police an hour to find her.
Paramedics suggested - and a post-mortem examination later confirmed, that the two boys had been dead for a number of hours.
Mr Justice Bennathan sentenced Alexander to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years and 252 days.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Waller, who led the investigation, said: "This is an incredibly tragic case, which has left a father without his two beloved boys and a family without two young brothers.
"Kara Alexander will spend the next two decades behind bars, where the memory of what she has done will haunt her forever.
"To the family and friends of Elijah and Marley, while no amount of time will erase the pain of such a loss, I hope this sentence serves to bring some semblance of justice.
"I hope you can now move on with your life, remembering the boys as you knew them, and treasuring the happy times you spent with them."
Samantha Yelland, a senior Crown prosecutor in the CPS London Homicide Unit, explained that the boys' family and friends had been left "completely devastated" by their deaths.
"It is unimaginable to think what those poor children went through in their final moments," she explained.
"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."