Mum charged with murder

A British mother charged with murdering her 2 children in Spain had been missing from Staffordshire along with her daughter.

43 year old Lianne Smith and 5 year old Rebecca disappeared from Lichfield in 2007. The little girl and her 11 month old brother Daniel were found dead in a hotel room on the Costa Brava on Tuesday 18th May.

Their father, 45 year old Martin Smith has since appeared in court in Carlisle accused of unrelated child sex offences.

Staffordshire Police have released this statement;

We are very saddened to hear of the tragic deaths of the two children.

Staffordshire Police had been treating Lianne and Rebecca Smith as missing people since December 2007.

Shortly before this time they had moved to Lichfield from Cumbria but within a short period they had moved again and their whereabouts were unknown.

It is believed that they were with Martin Smith, who was under investigation at that time by Cumbria Police for serious sexual offences.

Our officers have worked closely with Staffordshire Social Services, Cumbria Police and, once it was established that the family were believed to be abroad, Interpol and other law enforcement agencies to trace the family.

We are continuing to offer our full support to the investigation in Spain and Cumbria Police.