The story about the South African mother who smothered her twin boys and then her daughter, has gained massive public interest. Today, at the Old Bailey in England, her sentence was handed down.

The above picture is of Tania’s husband, Gary, with the late twins, Ben and Max.

This, from the BBC:

A woman who killed her three children by smothering them has been detained under a hospital order.

Tania Clarence, 43, of New Malden, south-west London, admitted the manslaughter of three-year-old twin sons Ben and Max, and daughter Olivia, aged four, due to diminished responsibility.

The children, who all had type 2 spinal muscular atrophy, were found at their home on 22 April.

She was sentenced at the Old Bailey.

Mr Justice Sweeney told Clarence she would not be released until she had recuperated from her illness.

During sentencing he said the mother had been “overwhelmed” by her family’s situation including witnessing medical interventions and procedures she felt were unnecessary.

He told the court she had a history of mental illness and was vulnerable at the time but had been of previous good character and there was “clear and convincing” evidence she was suffering a “major depressive episode”.

[more here]

Such a terrible, tragic story.

Click here to read the letter she wrote to her husband immediately after killing the twins.