London - The husband of Tania Clarence, who suffocated their three disabled children, launched a bitter attack on NHS staff and social workers whose “unbearable pressure” helped tip her over the edge.
The 43-year-old South African woman was given a hospital order for each of the three killings and told by a judge she will not be released until she has recovered from her mental illness.
But her husband Gary said his wife’s depression was made worse “by the constant pressure placed on the family by some individuals within the medical profession and social services”.
The banker said the couple had wished that the three children’s quality of life should be a priority and revealed that they had been unwilling to agree operations for the youngsters.
They all had a degenerative muscle-wasting condition sometimes referred to as “floppy baby” syndrome, which left them unable to stand or walk unaided.
Mr Clarence will assist a serious case review launched by Kingston Council in south-west London and said he hopes to be able to ensure that “never again will a family have to endure the unbearable pressure that eventually overwhelmed the resources” of his wife.
Sentencing her at the Old Bailey, Mr Justice Sweeney said the explanation for the previously “caring and patient” mother carrying out the killings of four-year-old Olivia and twins Ben and Max, three, was a major depressive episode. It left her feeling the only solution to her predicament was to kill the children.
But he acknowledged the impact of the doctors and social workers, saying the relationship between Mr and Mrs Clarence and many of the 60 professionals involved with the children reached “crisis point” the year before the killings.
The judge said the professionals “often descended in groups” on the family home, sometimes unannounced, leaving Clarence feeling insecure and that her “personal autonomy was compromised”.
Clarence, dressed all in black, sat with her head bowed throughout Wednesday’s hearing. She spoke only to confirm her name, her voice so weak it was barely audible.
She was supported in the dock, with the couple’s solicitor, Richard Egan, putting a comforting arm around her as she sobbed.
Since killing her children at the family home in New Malden, south-west London in April she has been receiving treatment in a secure ward at a psychiatric hospital.
Outside court, Gary Clarence, 43, a director with City bank Investec, paid tribute to his wife’s “extraordinary love, commitment and tenacity in the face of the overwhelming responsibilities” of caring for the three children.
He said the killings were “a tragedy from which lessons need to be learnt”, but added: “Tania’s depression was certainly not assisted by the constant pressure placed on the family by some individuals within the medical profession and social services.”
In a statement - read by solicitor Egan - he pointedly referred to those who “could not agree with” his and his wife’s stance of “prioritising quality of life for their children”.
Nor could those unnamed individuals agree with the couple’s unwillingness “to submit the children to operations and other interventions that they felt were not appropriate”.
Olivia, Max and Ben suffered from type 2 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Most sufferers live into their teenage years or adulthood, according to charities.
The clash of attitudes between Clarence, a graphic designer, and the 60 doctors, social workers and other professionals involved in caring for her children was laid bare at an earlier hearing.
She repeatedly objected to the children’s medical treatments, saying the quality of their lives was more important than longevity.
Prosecutor Zoe Johnson QC told the court that replacing a social worker who got on well with Clarence with a less experienced one two months before the killings “perhaps was an ill-conceived decision by the social services department”. The previous social worker resigned in disgust.
Shortly before the killings, Clarence resisted a gastrostomy - a procedure where a hole is made in the stomach so patients can be fed via a tube - for Olivia that doctors had urged because of fears that she was underweight. The dispute coincided with the appointment of the new social worker who presented Clarence with a list of “difficult” topics subjects for discussion including gastrostomy, physiotherapy routines, spinal surgery, and her mental health.
Clarence killed the three children in the early hours of Easter Tuesday. Her husband was on a holiday in the couple’s native South Africa with their healthy elder daughter, then aged eight. She smothered the boys first using a nappy before killing Olivia. Clarence then took an overdose of painkillers and drank a bottle of wine.
In letters to her husband she criticised interference by staff from GOSH (Great Ormond Street Hospital) and Kingston Council, which provided support for disabled children and their families from its Moor Lane Centre in Chessington.
Prosecutors agreed to drop murder charges after she admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
A Kingston Council spokesman said: “Throughout the lives of the children, we sought to work with partner agencies to ensure that the family were fully supported.
“The partnership will ensure that any learning from (the serious case review) is incorporated into the work with children with disabilities and their families.”
Daily Mail