Mum who murdered young daughters in '˜spasm of violence' jailed for 24 years

Samira Lupidi was sentenced in her absence as she refused to come back in to the courtroom at Bradford Crown Court, to hear her fate.

Mr Justice Edis agreed to this, as long as she hear his sentencing remarks, in which he said: “You killed the things you loved in a temporary rage, which will have everlasting and disastrous consequences for you.”

Jailing the 24-year-old to a minimum of 24 years, Mr Edis said: “This is a crime which speaks of rage and I sentence you on the basis that you killed them in anger and out of a desire for revenge.

“This passion was not long lasting, but it lasted long enough to see them both dead.

“Even a week later you were telling the prison medical staff that the most important thing was that Carl Weaver was suffering.”

Every member of the jury remained behind to hear the sentencing of the judge, after they took just one-and-a-half hours to reach a guilty verdict.

The court heard Lupidi killed her children Evelyn, three, and Jasmine, 17 months, in a “violent rage” on November 17, last year, after she left the family home to go to a women’s refuge in Bradford.

Mr Justice Edis said: “You killed Evelyn first and then Jasmine. Jasmine, you say later, had been crying while you were killing her sister in a way she had never cried before.

“They were each killed with nine violent blows to the chest with a large knife.

“It does not take much imagination to know what that dreadful scene and the way in which Jasmine has died has traumatised their father who has only just learned of it.

“These were very grave murders. There were two victims and they were both as vulnerable as anyone could be. They trusted you.

“The Weaver family, especially Carl, the girls’ father, has suffered dreadfully because of the loss of these two beautiful girls and their lives, I am sure, will never be the same again.”

The judge said he accepted she was a good mother who is genuinely remorseful for what she has done, but that “you have, in ending these two lives and ruining so many others, destroyed your own.

“I believe you killed these children in a spasm of violence triggered by a weekend of violent arguments, one of which was witnessed by their grandparents.

“You had formed a delusional belief that you were in danger of being killed and that you were going to be abandoned and that you would not see the children again.”

He said she did not turn up to an appointment to discuss eldest daughter Evelyn’s educational needs for fear she would have the children taken from her.

He said: “This was because you were alone, friendless in a foreign country and had, because of your delusions, come to regard the Weaver family as your enemy.

“The killings were caused as you said almost immediately afterwards, because you reacted to this very difficult situation by saying ‘If I can’t have them, neither can he’.

Speaking after the case, the girls grandfather, Peter Weaver, speaking on behalf of the family, said: “We have been left utterly devastated at the tragic events last November.

“We were preparing to celebrate Evelyn and Jasmine’s christening, that should have been a joy, but instead Evelyn and Jasmine were cruelly taken away from us.

“We will all remember that day.

“Our lives are now filled with sorrow and our broken hearts will never heal.

“The girls were typical toddlers, always wanting to play and always happy but never far away from being from being mischievious.

“They have been robbed of their precious lives and we, as a family, have been robbed of being able to watch these beautiful girls grow into beautiful young women.

“They were loved deeply and are missed terribly.”

Det Chief Insp Richard Holmes, who lead the investigation, said: “This has been a tragic case and one which has a devastating effect on all these involved, not least the family of Evelyn and Jasmine whose lives were taken so tragically from them.

“We may never know why Miss Lupidi took the tragic actions she did last November but hope that with the length of sentence that’s been passed today she’ll be able to consider the consequences of her actions.

“We hope that the length of sentence can provide some level of comfort and solace to the family of Evelyn and Jasmine at such a desperate time for them.”