'Evil' mother who murdered toddler daughters because they 'got in way' of her sex life sentenced to life in prison
A sex worker mom who murdered her two young daughters because they "got in the way" of her sex life has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years.
We previously reported that Louise Porton, 23, of Rugby, Warwickshire, was found guilty of two counts of murder by the Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, August 1, in connection to the deaths of her two daughters, three-year-old Lexi Draper and 16-month-old Scarlett Vaughan.
Having failed to kill her on two previous occasions, Porton killed Lexi in January 2018 at a hotel room in Rugby before killing Scarlett just 18 days later.
She strangled Lexi to death on Jan 15, with video footage from the scene showing her ushering her two daughters into the room the night before she killed the 3-year-old
Then, on the day of Scarlett's death on Feb 1, she was filmed on CCTV footage driving around the neighborhood calmly and even stopping for petrol as the 16-month-old lay dead or dying on the back seat of her car. The footage was captured after she had called emergency services to report that her daughter "wasn't breathing."
Prosecutor Oliver Saxby QC told the jury that both children had injuries consistent with deliberate air obstruction and that Scarlett had signs of recent bleeding in her neck tissue, which was suggestive of neck compression.
He also said the mother showed no remorse whatsoever after her daughters' deaths.
He revealed that during Lexi's hospitalization after Porton's second failed attempt to kill her, the 23-year-old sent a man a topless photo and agreed to participate in sex acts during a photoshoot if the photographer deposited cash in her bank account.
During the same period, he said, she also passed on her phone number with a hospital security guard and went on to exchange 87 messages with him.
Just one day after Lexi's death, Porton accepted 41 friend requests on a dating app, with one message suggesting that she was ready to have sex with a man in the bedsit she shared with her children.
The jurors also heard how Porton was seen making a video call with a man while arranging the three-year-old's burial at a funeral home and how, two days later, a social worker had seen her looking "chatty, alert, and happy."
"At times, her two children got in the way of her doing what she wanted, when she wanted and with whom she wanted," Saxby said.
In a statement read out to the court, the childrens' father, Chris Draper, 25, said he was "broken" after their deaths, reported the Daily Mail. He said the young girls had been "let down by the system" and that his only comfort was that "both Lexi and Scarlett are together now."
Judge Mrs. Justice Yip condemned Porton's actions and called them "sinister." Addressing the 23-year-old, she said, "One way or another you squeezed the life out of your daughters. Why you did so only you know."
"Your actions have devastated so many lives. Lexi and Scarlett had so much to offer to their wider family but you took all of that away."
Yip also brought up Porton's internet searches, which included phrases such as "can you actually die if you have a blocked nose and cover your mouth with tape" and "how long after drowning can someone be resuscitated."
"These were blameless young children who were plainly vulnerable and ought to have been able to rely on their mother to protect and nurture them," she said, terming Porton's actions as "evil" and "calculated."