Mortgage worries led mother to kill

A loving mother who could see "no way out" of her family's mortgage arrears drugged herself and her two children before setting fire to their home, an inquest was told.

Linda Mulvihill told her son, Nicholas, nine, and daughter Carly, 11, she was taking them with her to "the angels in heaven" before sending them to sleep and using petrol to set light to their home at Lancing, West Sussex.

Worthing coroner's court heard how the 35-year-old had not told her husband, Pat, that their two-bedroom semi-detached bungalow was about to be repossessed.

Mr Mulvihill only found out after police investigations showed she had cancelled the family's direct debits the previous Monday.

Recording a verdict of suicide on Mrs Mulvihill and unlawful killing on her two children, the West Sussex Coroner, Roger Stone, said: "I don't suppose any of us can understand the burden of tragic fate resting on Mr Mulvihill.

"We've heard it may have been driven by financial pressure, but the fact that it should result in this true tragedy is unbelievable."

Fire-fighters broke into the rear of the bungalow on the afternoon of September 23 and found Mrs Mulvihill and her two children lying dead in the lounge. There was a strong smell of petrol and traces of a fire in the room.

Vesna Djurovic, a home office pathologist based at Guy's hospital, London, said all three had died from smoke inhalation while intoxicated by drugs.

Carly's blood was 46% saturated by a sleeping drug, while Nicholas had absorbed a mixture of the sleeping drug and a travel sickness drug. Mrs Mulvihill's blood showed traces of paracetamol.

All three had only superficial burns, and there were no signs of external physical injury.

"It was my opinion that Carly and Nicholas were probably rendered unconscious and were in a deep sleep so they were not aware of the fire."

Mrs Mulvihill, a former bank worker, had taken care of the family's finances from an early stage in the marriage. Mr Mulvihill said that at an earlier stage the couple's mortgage had been in arrears, but he had thought that problem was resolved.

He had not been aware his wife had any reason to be prescribed drugs, but the inquest heard how she had been given the sleeping drug, Zopiclone, a few days earlier by her GP.

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Gaylor said police found a melted plastic container with traces of petrol inside near the sofa in the lounge and a pile of pillows had been left nearby.

The house was due to be repossessed three days after the fire.

"The evidence we have indicates that she hadn't told people about it and she was just trying to come to terms with it herself. She just decided there was no way out and unfortunately took the decision she did."

After the inquest, Mr Gaylor said Mrs Mulvihill had posted sealed farewell notes to members of her family, including her husband, through a neighbour's letterbox.

"In those notes she said how she couldn't go on any longer and she felt this was the only thing she could do." In one of the letters she wrote that she had spoken to her children and told them they were going to "heaven" to see "the angels", and they had said they wanted to stay with her.

He believed the purpose of the fire was to burn the bungalow to the ground, leaving no trace, so it could not be repossessed. "This is certainly the most tragic and the saddest case I have ever been involved in."

Mr Mulvihill, who works as a building site foreman in Horsham, was slowly trying to "rebuild" his life.

"His whole life has been destroyed and nothing is ever going to heal it for him."