A husband today told how his wife drowned their ‘terrified, confused’ two-year-old twins in 27 minutes in revenge because they’d split after giving up a lavish expat life in Qatar.
Samantha Ford, 38, who killed 23-month-old twins Jake and Chloe on Boxing Day last year, had not wanted to leave Qatar for ‘s***hole’ Margate and was ’emotionally controlling’, the Old Bailey was told.
Hours after killing her children she drove into the back of a lorry without wearing a seatbelt and told officers: ‘Just let me die’ and ‘I killed my babies. I would never hurt them, they are my miracle babies.’
Today, her devastated former husband Steven Ford, called the death of his children ‘the ultimate punishment’.
‘This was the most heinous, spiteful act on two innocent children,’ he said in a victim impact statement. ‘I have no doubt [Ford] did this with the intention of taking her own life and punishing me in the process.
‘I know how she behaves when things don’t go her way… it’s an extreme version of her character. Knowing how much I loved the children she knew it would be the ultimate punishment for me not going back to her.’
Samantha Ford, 38, who drowned 23-month-old twins Jake and Chloe (left) in the bath on Boxing Day last year, had not wanted to leave Qatar and was ’emotionally controlling’, the Old Bailey was told
Her husband Steven Ford outside court (left) and the twins in an undated family photo (right)
Ford previously admitted two counts of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and is due to be sentenced at the Old Bailey later this afternoon.
The court heard that after her crash Ford also told officers: ‘This is all a dream. I should have gone to the hospital sooner. He’s messing with my head.’
The mother said she had ‘put them in the bath’ and urged the officers to check her home in Westwood.
After rushing back to the house they discovered the two children laying dressed in their beds and attempted to resuscitate them, but ‘that was sadly a hopeless exercise’, said prosecutor Tom Kark QC.
A note on the table scrawled by Ford read: ‘Please forgive my crazy mind.’
The court heard Ford had sent a message on Christmas Day, telling someone: ‘I just need to end. I just need something to strike him to make him know what he’s doing’.
Mr Kark said: ‘This is a tragic and, in some respects, complex case.
‘On the night of December 27 last year, the defendant killed her twin children Jake and Chloe Ford.
‘They were aged 23 months, and she killed them, it would appear, by drowning them in the bath at the family home in Margate.
‘The defendant was charged with murder and on May 28 she entered pleas of not guilty to two counts of murder, but guilty to the offence of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
‘For reasons the court is aware of those pleas were eventually accepted by the prosecution.’
The court heard how the pair met in 2004 and in the early stages of their relationship Ford was ‘much more controlling’ and ‘occasionally aggressive’ to Mr Ford.
Ford (left), her husband Steven Ford (pictured right) and the twins posing with a Father Christmas
‘The pain is indescribable’: Steven Ford’s emotional victim impact statement read out to the court
Mr Ford told the court: ‘The total shock and pain is indescribable. In that moment my life had changed in a heartbeat.
‘My two beautiful babies were healthy, bright and loving children who had everything to life for.
‘Being twins they were a real double act. They were quite individual in their personalities, but were also aware of each other’s presence.
‘I have no doubt they would have been wonderful people. Jake and Chloe were wanted babies. Samantha and I went through four attempts of IVF and years of heartache.
‘I have night terror these have become more frequent in recent weeks and happened in the middle of the night.
‘I wake myself up screaming or throwing items within my reach in my bedroom.
‘I find these incidents particularly disturbing. Sometimes in the morning when I get out of bed I get out on autopilot and go to the twins room to get them up.
‘Over the last few months I have been troubled with suicidal thoughts, thinking about hanging myself; although I think about the impact it would have on my parents and my family. Sometimes I feel like I can’t live like this.
‘I find myself speculating what their last minutes were like. I suspect they were terrified, confused and suffering. I feel like I should have been able to protect them even though I know I couldn’t have.’
Mr Ford told the court he felt guilty for the twin’s deaths and had no idea that anything was wrong when he dropped them back at Ford’s on Boxing Day.
‘At the time of their deaths I was at home watching a film,’ he said. ‘It pains me every day.
‘I should have known something was wrong; 27 minutes is all it took for her to commit the most heinous spiteful act on two innocent defenceless children.
‘I have no doubt in my mind she has done this with the intention of ending her life and hurting me in the process. I know her character and how she behaves when things don’t go in her way.
‘I understand she was in a depressive state and also struggling emotionally.. But I think she still knew what was right from wrong.
‘How I wish I had never taken them back to her. I only did this because I thought every mum deserves to be with their kids.
‘I believe what happened here is an extreme version of her character. Like a tantrum. She knew it was the ultimate punishment.’
He added: ‘Jake and Chloe have been cheated of their lives. I feel cheated and angry that I will never see the magic of watching them grow and enjoy their lives.
‘I know this will be something I will never got over as long as I live. I’m completely helpless in this situation and I don’t know what to do.’
They moved to Qatar in 2008 and spent most of their 10-year marriage living over there where she gave birth to the twins following IVF treatment.
‘It appears that they had a very good and affluent lifestyle which Samantha very much enjoyed,’ said Mr Kark.
But following their return to the UK last year, the relationship between the Fords ‘deteriorated’ and they eventually split in November.
In subsequent messages between them, the court heard Ford complained about the move back, telling him their ‘children are going to grow up in a miserable cold country’ and that they were ‘destined to be a miserable family living in a s**thole’.
Relatives later told police how she was ‘distraught’ at the break-up, ‘struggled to cope’ and had ‘not really settled after moving back to the UK’.
They also said she found it difficult to sleep and observed how ‘her mental health had deteriorated’.
Days before Christmas she was diagnosed with a ‘severe depressive disorder’ and suffering an ‘acute stress reaction’.
Mr Kark told the court she ‘blamed her estranged husband for dragging the family back from Qatar’ where they ‘enjoyed a relatively lavish lifestyle’.
Mr Ford, (pictured right) her husband of five years, paid tribute to the twins on social media after their death
When police Ford’s home, in Margate, Kent, at 3:35am, they found the toddlers dead
The twins were found dead in their beds in the early hours of December 27 after Mrs Ford was involved in a crash on the A299
He said there was evidence to suggest she was ‘a materialistic person’ who ‘resented losing her good lifestyle in Qatar’.
It had been agreed that because of her deteriorating mental state, Mr Ford would have the children over Christmas and return them in the New Year.
But the plan changed, and he dropped them back to Ford on Boxing Day.
Mr Kark said Ford was ‘an almost obsessive user of her phone in the lead-up to Christmas Day’.
An interrogation of it revealed Google searches for ‘drowning children’, ‘overdosing’ and ‘how long does it take to drown someone’.
The court also heard it showed she ‘was not without support from her family’ during the same period.
Her brother drove past her house late on Boxing Day night and was alarmed to see the lights on but her car missing from outside.
He described the sight leaving him ‘with a horrible sinking feeling’ and their sister message Ford to say they were going to call the Crisis team because of her worrying behaviour.
When their mother managed to get through shortly after 11pm Ford told her she was at their old house with the children.
But Mr Kark told the court: ‘That was a lie, because by this time the children were lying dead at the house in Castle Drive.’
The court heard they arrived home at around midday on Boxing Day, while Ford’s parents were visiting.
Mr Ford is pictured with both his twins in an image posted to his Facebook account
Devastated neighbours left soft toy tributes outside the home in Margate, Kent
Aside from a short trip out to Sainsbury’s, they remained there until around 6.25pm that evening.
Within half an hour she had drowned her two toddlers, dressed them in nappies and baby-grows, lay them in their beds and set off in her Ford Galaxy at around 6.52pm.
Ford had been facing trial accused of murder, but prosecutors accepted guilty pleas to manslaughter in light of psychiatric reports.
Mr Justice Edis is expected to sentence her later after hearing further evidence from psychiatrists.
Mr Ford sat in the well of the court flanked by a number of supporters during the hearing today.
He has posted a series of pictures of the children on Twitter since their death, describing them as his ‘beautiful babies’.
After the killings he tweeted: ‘Daddy’s twins xxx my beautiful babies. I love you.’
Soon after the death of his children, Mr Ford thanks people for their messages of tribute and support
Mr Ford has paid tribute to his young children on a number of occasions on social media
