A mother tried to kill her two children when her husband left after admitting to an affair, a court has heard.
After putting her two children in bed, the mother climbed in and all three took a cocktail of powerful tablets.
In addition to strong painkillers, they also allegedly took antidepressants and sleeping pills.
The 39-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sent a suicide voice message to her brother, who immediately raised the alarm.
Police, paramedics and firefighters were called to their home in Uckfield, East Sussex, and found a 10-year-old boy lying unconscious on a vomit-covered bed with his eyes wide open.
Paramedics found his 13-year-old sister wandering around in a “dizzy and confused” state.
Their mother was conscious but had difficulty speaking and all three were taken to hospital for emergency treatment.
Lewes Crown Court heard the woman became depressed after her husband announced he was having an affair.
He had left the family home at the start of the year and left the country to join his mistress.
The court heard the woman was extremely upset by the breakdown of the marriage and had become depressed.
“She couldn’t live without him.”
The jury heard that on February 7 the woman gathered medicines from the house and told the children about her plan at tea time.
Amy Packham, prosecuting, said: “She told police she decided she couldn’t live without him and so decided to take her own life.
“She realized she couldn’t physically kill her children so she decided they would all have to take pills so they would all die together. »
She recorded and sent a voice message to her brother, who lived abroad, saying that her husband had had an affair and left the family.
Ms Packham told the court: “The defendant said in the message: ‘The reason I had to end my life and the lives of my children is because of these people.’
“She said, ‘My children are very intelligent but because of these two we are going to kill ourselves.’
The mother put a large quantity of tablets on a tray on her bed, then all three went in and around midnight they started taking the tablets.
Ms Packham said: “She had told police she told the children: ‘We can have more and more drugs until we die’. »
At one point, her son fell asleep and, worried that he had only taken enough medication to fall asleep, she woke him up and asked him to take more.
When her daughter was sick, her mother was concerned that she had vomited the tablets and so asked her to take more tablets.
Responding to an emergency call, paramedics arrived at the home around 6 a.m. on February 8 and, after forcing entry, found the family.
The court heard that paramedic James Punchard went upstairs where he found the girl standing just outside one of the bedrooms.
“The boy seemed dead”
Ms Packham said: “She seemed confused and dazed. He entered the bedroom and found two people on the bed, the boy who initially appeared to be dead as his eyes were open and was clearly not breathing at this stage and the accused who was slumped on top of him.
The court heard [the boy] was treated on his bed before being taken to hospital.
“Mr Punchard asked [the daughter] if she had been given tablets and nodded her head.
“He asked if his mother had given him the tablets and she nodded again. She was taken downstairs to be transported to the hospital by ambulance.
“She was unsteady on her feet and as they were lowering her she was sick in the kitchen sink.”
The court heard that another paramedic, Jack Brodie, noticed large quantities of drugs lying around the room.
Ms Packham said: “Later, as the defendant was being taken to hospital, she told Mr Brodie she thought they had taken the medicine at around 1am.
“She said she asked the children to ingest the medicine at the same time as her, one by one.”
After being treated at the hospital, the two children were questioned by a police officer.
The boy told the officer he was in the hospital because he had eaten medicine.
“I didn’t force them”
Ms Packham said: “He said his mother gave him the medicine. He said he didn’t know why she gave him the medicine.
“When [the daughter] When spoken to, she told police they had taken a lot of tablets. She had taken the pills to die.
“When asked how she got the tablets, she replied: ‘From my mother.’
The court heard that when she was arrested for attempted murder, the mother said: “I didn’t force them.”
The court heard the defendant suffered from a moderate to severe depressive illness.
She denies two counts of attempted murder. The trial continues.
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