'The woman left a (suicide) note'

Published May 20, 2010

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Madrid - A British woman held in Spain on suspicion of killing her two young children had tried to commit suicide immediately after her alleged crime, a Spanish newspaper said on Thursday.

Police declined to comment on the report, on the web site of the leading Spanish daily El Mundo.

Police detained Lianne Smith, 43, on Tuesday at the four-star Hotel Miramar on the beach at the coastal resort of Lloret del Mar after her five-year-old daughter and 11-month-old son were found dead in their hotel room.

Her arrest came on the same day that her husband and the father of at least one of the two children, 45-year-old Martin Smith, was extradited back to Britain from Spain to face 13 charges of sexual offences.

El Mundo, which did not indicate its sources, said Lianne Smith had attempted suicide before asking the hotel receptionist to call an ambulance.

"The woman left a (suicide) note explaining that she killed her children and took her life because he was afraid of losing custody of children" after her husband's arrest on May 6.

It did not sayd how she had allegedly attempted suicide.

Police Thursday took her back to the flat in Barcelona where she had lived with her husband and children to search for clues.

She is to appear court on Friday, after the judge receives an autopsy report on the two children.

About 100 people also observed a minute's silence Thursday for the two children in front of the town hall in Lloret de Mar.

There were no traces of violence on their bodies and police suspect the children were suffocated, Spanish media has reported.

She had checked into the 54-room hotel on Saturday with her two children after arriving by car and paid in advance for four nights, British media said.

Lianne Smith had been reported missing in England since December 2007 and police believe she had been living on Spain's Costa Brava. - Sapa-AFP

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