Mum who drowned sons, 2 and 5, in bath before dad came to collect them is jailed

A mum who drowned her two sons in the bath then lay them in bed before their dad came to collect them for the weekend has been jailed for life.

Kara Alexander, 47, killed Elijah Thomas, two, and Marley Thomas, five, in the bath at their home in Dagenham, east London, in December 2022.

She claimed their deaths had been ‘an accident’ but a jury at Kingston Crown Court found her guilty of two counts of murder.

Alexander was given a life sentence with a minimum term of more than 21 years at the same court today.

Jailing her, Mr Justice Bennathan described the children’s father finding his sons lying dead next to one another as ‘the stuff of nightmares’

The senior judge said Alexander was in a psychotic state when she killed her sons and that it was cannabis induced.

He said: ‘On the evening of the 15th of December 2022, you’d been smoking skunk.

‘You’d been doing so every night for weeks, probably much longer. At some stage, both the boys were in their pyjamas ready for bed, with Elijah also wearing his nappy.

‘You drowned them both by your deliberate acts.’

The judge added: ‘From all that I have read and seen of you, I have no doubt that every day when you awake you will remember and grieve for the little boys whose lives you snatched away.’

During the trial, jurors were told how the boys’ father, Selvin Thomas, was due to have them that weekend and became worried when he did not hear from Alexander.

When he arrived at her home, she told him Elijah and Marley were upstairs sleeping.

He then ran to his sons’ bedroom and found their bodies lying side-by-side on their lower bunk bed.

Prosecutor Philip Evans KC said: ‘They were bunched up together and it looked like they were asleep.

‘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 court heard Mr Thomas ran downstairs screaming: ‘Kara, Kara, Kara. What the f–k? You’ve killed my children.’

Alexander was nowhere to be seen, and Mr Thomas dialled 999.

Police and paramedics rushed to the home, but nothing could be done as the boys had been dead for some time.

Alerxander was arrested about an hour later and later claimed she had left the boys in the bath alone while she smoked cannabis.

Samantha Yelland, a senior Crown prosecutor in the CPS London Homicide Unit, said: ‘It is unimaginable to think what those poor children went through in their final moments.

‘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.’

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.’