Child deaths mother due in court

Lianne Smith and her daughter Rebecca

The mother of two British children found dead in a hotel in north-east Spain is expected to appear in a Spanish court later.

Lianne Smith, 43, was arrested on suspicion of murdering daughter Rebecca, five, and son Daniel, 11 months, in Lloret de Mar, Costa Brava.

Post-mortem examinations established the children were asphyxiated.

Mrs Smith’s husband Martin, 45, has appeared in court in Cumbria charged with unrelated child sex offences.

Remember the children

Mrs Smith has been questioned by Spanish police in the nearby town of Blanes following the discovery of the children’s bodies.

Police have 72 hours from the time of arrest before they must present their case to a magistrate who will decide whether to bring any charges.

About 100 holidaymakers and locals gathered outside the resort’s town hall to remember the children on Thursday morning.

Map of Spain showing Lloret de Mar

Cumbria County Council confirmed Ms Smith had worked in its children’s department, responsible for out-of-school activities but not working with children.

Rebecca was referred by police to its social care team following inquiries into Mr Smith, 45, who was remanded at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday until 7 June.

Child protection procedures were put in place before the allegations were passed to social services in Staffordshire, where Mrs Smith and her daughter moved to in October 2007. They were reported missing two months later.

Cumbria Police has now voluntarily referred itself, and Staffordshire Police, to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) about the family’s case.

The IPCC said it was assessing the details and would decide whether it needed to conduct an investigation.

Four-star hotel

Mr Smith, the father of both children, was extradited from Spain over 13 charges of sexual offences against a girl aged between seven and 18, and for failing to answer police bail.

He was told on Tuesday his children had been found dead at the Hotel Miramar in the resort. He had been arrested in Barcelona on 7 May.

He was charged with six counts of gross indecency with or towards a girl aged under 16 between 1995 and 2001, six counts of rape of a girl aged under 16 between 2001 and 2005, and one count of attempted rape of a girl under the age of 16 between 1997 and 2001.

Spanish police found the children’s bodies shortly before 1400 local time on Tuesday in a room at the four-star hotel.

The year the family went missing, Mr Smith had appeared on the television programme Most Haunted as a guest psychic investigating alleged paranormal occurrences at Brougham Hall near Penrith.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

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