A mother tried to kill both her children when her husband left after confessing to having an affair, a court has heard.
After putting her two children in her bed, the mother climbed in and all three took a cocktail of strong tablets.
As well as strong painkillers, they also allegedly took antidepressants and sleeping tablets.
The 39-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sent a suicide voicemail to her brother, who immediately raised the alarm.
Police, paramedics and the fire service were called to their home in Uckfield, East Sussex, and they found a 10-year-old boy lying unconscious on a vomit-covered bed with his eyes wide open.
Paramedics found his 13-year-old sister wandering around in a “dazed and confused” state.
Their mother was conscious but slurring her words and all three were taken to hospital for emergency treatment.
Lewes Crown Court heard the woman had become depressed after her husband announced he had been having an affair.
He had left the family home earlier this year and had left the country to be with his mistress.
The court heard the woman was extremely upset by the breakdown of the marriage and had become depressed.
‘She could not live without him’
The jury heard that on Feb 7, the woman had gathered medication from around the house and spoke to the children at teatime about her plan.
Amy Packham, prosecuting, said: “She told the police that she had decided she could not live without him and so had decided to commit suicide.
“She had realised she could not physically kill her children and so she had decided that they should all take tablets so that they would all die together.”
She recorded and sent a voicemail to her brother, who lived abroad, which said her husband had been having an affair and had left the family.
Ms Packham told the court: “The defendant said on the message, ‘The reason why I had to end my and my children’s lives is because of these people’.
“She said, ‘My children are very smart and intelligent but because of those two we are going to commit suicide’.”
The mother put a large amount of tablets on a tray on her bed and then all three got in and at around midnight they began taking the tablets.
Ms Packham said: “She had told the police she told the children, ‘We can have more and more medication until we die’.”
At one point, her son fell asleep and, concerned he may only have taken enough drugs to make him fall asleep, she woke him and got him to take some more.
When her daughter was sick, her mother was worried she might have vomited the pills and so asked her to take some more tablets.
Responding to an emergency call, paramedics arrived at the house at around 6am on Feb 8 and, after forcing entry, they found the family.
The court heard paramedic James Punchard went upstairs where he found the daughter standing just outside of one of the bedrooms.
‘The boy appeared to be dead’
Ms Packham said: “She appeared confused and dazed. He went into the room and found two people on the bed, the boy who initially appeared to him to be dead as he had his eyes open and was not visibly breathing at that stage and the defendant who was slumped over the top of him.”
The court heard [the boy] was treated on the bed before being taken to hospital.
“Mr Punchard asked [the daughter] if she had been given tablets and she nodded.
“He asked if her mother had given her the tablets and she nodded again. She was taken downstairs to be taken to hospital in an ambulance.
“She was unsteady on her feet and as she was being taken downstairs was sick into the kitchen sink.”
The court heard another paramedic, Jack Brodie, noticed large quantities of medication lying around in the bedroom.
Ms Packham said: “Later, as the defendant was being transported to hospital, she told Mr Brodie that she thought that they had taken the medication at about 1am.
“She said she had instructed the children to ingest the medication simultaneously with her, one by one.”
After they had been treated in hospital, both children were asked questions by a police officer.
The boy told the officer that he was in hospital because he had eaten medicine.
‘I didn’t force them’
Ms Packham said: “He said his mum had given him the medicine. He said he did not know why she had given him the medicine.
“When [the daughter] was spoken to, she told the police that they had taken a lot of tablets. She had taken the tablets to die.
“When asked how she had got the tablets she said, ‘From my mum’.”
The court heard when she was arrested for the attempted murder, the mother said: “I didn’t force them.”
The court heard the defendant was found to be suffering from a moderate to severe depressive illness.
She denies two counts of attempted murder. The trial continues.
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