Lianne Smith sent farewell letter
A former Staffordshire woman accused of killing her two children in a Spanish hotel room compiled a farewell letter and a selection of photographs of her and her family on holiday, it was revealed today.
A former Staffordshire woman accused of killing her two children in a Spanish hotel room compiled a farewell letter and a selection of photographs of her and her family on holiday, it was revealed today.
The package was posted from Spain to England before the children's deaths and arrived yesterday.
It is believed Lianne Smith, aged 43, who went missing from Lichfield in 2007, compiled an album of their 'wonderful holiday' together on the Costa Brava, then sent it off with the farewell letter before allegedly smothering Rebecca and 11-month-old Daniel with a plastic bag almost two weeks ago.
She reveals that 'an attempt was made to take my children', so she intended to give them 'a short and wonderful holiday before events you will start to hear about in the press'.
Mrs Smith sent the package to a publicist she had contacted through the internet after the arrest of her partner Martin Anthony Smith.
He became one of Britain's most wanted men when he fled with her to Spain more than two years ago when facing sex charges.
The former TV 'psychic' was taken from the flat they shared in Barcelona on May 8, and extradited to Britain shortly afterwards.
Mrs Smith, a former child protection expert with Cumbria County Council, is convinced of his innocence — and hoped publicity over her plight would allow her to keep custody of her children while she fought the allegations on his behalf. On May 14, it is claimed she was panicked into fleeing Barcelona after what she described as 'an attempt to take my children'. It is thought that Spanish social workers had tried to contact her.
She headed for Lloret de Mar, the resort where she and Smith spent three weeks after they arrived in Spain.
In extracts from the letter sent back to England, Lianne Smith reportedly wrote: 'Social Services in Staffordshire and their policy of "forced adoptions" are to blame for this'.
Foretelling apparent plans to take her own life, she adds: 'If we were only dealing with the police and court system I would still be here for Martin.'
Mrs Smith survived to alert the authorities herself despite apparently using the same plastic bag which smothered the children on herself. This was apparently followed by a further suicide attempt when she slashed her wrists.
