A mum murdered her two sons aged five and two in their east London home before leaving their bodies for their dad to find in their bunk beds.
Kara Alexander, from Dagenham, either smothered or drowned Elijah, two, and Marley Thomas, five, in December 2022.
Their bodies were found by their dad Selvin Thomas, who had split with their mum three months earlier, in their bunk beds after he came to pick them up for the weekend.
Alexander had told them they were upstairs asleep and slammed the front door in his face, but he forced his way into the home.
Mr Thomas discovered them ‘obviously deceased’ in their beds and were cold to touch.
He ran downstairs screaming ‘Kara, Kara, Kara. What the f***? You’ve killed my children.’
Alexander, who was found in a nearby garden insisted it was an accident, but she was found guilty of murder at Kingston Crown Court.
Mr Thomas was due to have the boys that weekend and was worried as he had not received any messages or calls.
He 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.
‘They were bunched up together and it looked like they were asleep,’ said Mr Evans.
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‘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 and thought they had been dead for some time.’
She was arrested about an hour later and later claimed she had left the boys in the bath alone while she smoked cannabis.
The cause of death was drowning or suffocation, it was not confirmed, but post mortems also revealed traces of cannabis in the blood of each boy.
Marley and Elijah, also known as Teddy, had previously lived with Alexander and Mr Thomas in Hackney before they split up and she moved to Dagenham with the boys.
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.’
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