Lianne Smith in suicide note - claim

The Staffordshire woman whose two children were found dead in a Spanish hotel room, reportedly left a suicide note saying: "I hope you can forgive me."

The revelation came today as Lianne Smith, aged 43, who went missing from Lichfield in 2007, appeared in court in Blanes on the Costa Brava.

She is suspected of suffocating her children Rebecca Smith, five, and Daniel, 11 months, at the nearby resort of Lloret de Mar on Tuesday on the same day her partner Martin Smith was extradited back to Britain to face charges of child sex abuse. Today's hearing, which was held behind closed doors, was for a judge to decide whether to bring a case against her.

It was claimed today that she planned to kill herself and leave her children with a nanny but in the end could not bear to be parted.

The children's nanny said she believed Smith intended to leave the two infants in her care and go off and kill herself. Mimi Buckley, aged 21, from Merseyside, said: "I think she meant to hire me as a nanny, leave her children with me and then commit suicide. But I don't think she could bear to leave them."

A woman believed to be Mrs Smith was taken to her apartment in Barcelona yesterday. She was escorted by police and wearing a jacket over her head to hide her face.

Her wrists appeared to be bandaged.