A mother who stabbed her daughter and son to death in their family home has been pictured for the first time.
Veronique John, 50, was not present at Nottingham Crown Court as a jury in a fact-finding hearing decided she was responsible for unlawfully causing wounds in attacks that the prosecution described as ‘almost too horrific to contemplate’.
The jury found that the injuries she inflicted led to the deaths of her daughter and son, aged seven and 11, and that she also unlawfully stabbed their father in the stomach.
Her daughter Elizabeth was pronounced dead at her home in Stoke-on-Trent on June 11 last year, having suffered a fractured skull and knife wounds, while the 50-year-old’s son suffered more than 20 sharp force injuries.
John, who has been diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder as well as personality and depressive disorders, was ruled unfit to enter a plea or take part in the trial.
She is being treated at Rampton high-security hospital in Nottinghamshire and now faces an indefinite hospital order following the jury’s ruling.
Veronique John, 50, (pictured) thought her husband was cheating on her screamed ‘he’s going to take my children away’ after stabbing daughter and son, seven and 11, to death
Veronique John stabbed her children Ethan (left), 11, and Elizabeth (right), seven, to death at their family home on Sunday, June 11
The trial of the facts hearing did not require jurors to return verdicts of guilty or not guilty on charges of murder and attempted murder, with the panel instead asked to decide whether John ‘did the acts alleged against her’.
After hearing evidence over five days, the jury at Nottingham Crown Court took around 40 minutes to reach its unanimous decision.
The court was told John, originally from the Caribbean island of St Vincent, ‘erupted’ into violence at her home in Flax Street, Stoke, because she did not want her husband, Nathan John, to have their children.
She then headed to a car wash where he worked to stab him in the stomach.
After returning home, John dialled 999 and told the operator: ‘I am calling to report I just killed my two kids.
The charity shop worker told police after her arrest: ‘If you have a gun shoot me. I am not a monster – he was going to take them from me.’
Police and ambulances outside the family home on Flax Street after the attacks
John, said to be incandescent with rage after being arrested for assaulting her husband while suspecting him of having an affair, later stated in interview: ‘It’s something I was thinking about for a long time – just kill myself and the kids.
‘Unless you guys are offering me the death penalty I have nothing else to say.
‘I did it because I love my children – to protect the children. If there’s any possible way I could be put to death, I would like that. When I say that I am not joking. I mean it 100 per cent.’
She went on to claim that she could not remember anything about the nature or number of the injuries inflicted on the children.
Ethan was declared dead after being found in a bedroom, while Elizabeth was discovered in the living room, having suffered head trauma and ‘three areas of sharp force’ injury, including to her stomach.
Medical efforts to save the children, who both had neck wounds, were ‘futile’ due to the severity of their injuries, the court heard.
The judge had ruled that John, who did not advance a defence of insanity, was unfit to plead after being told by psychiatrists that she was ‘mentally very unwell’ and would be unable to follow the course of the proceedings.
Mr Justice Choudhury will dispose of the case against John, who came to the UK nine years ago and has no previous convictions, later on Monday.
Detective Chief Inspector Cheryl Hannan, from Staffordshire Police’s Major Investigations Department, said: ‘This case was distressing for all involved, it was traumatic for the local community and has left so many people devastated by what happened.
‘It’s not lost on me nor any of the officers that were involved in this investigation the lasting effect it will have on the many people that knew Ethan and Elizabeth, and the fond memories they have of them.
‘My thoughts remain with their father, family and friends at such a tragic time both here and in other parts of the world.
‘I’d also like to thank everyone from the local community who pulled together in such desperate times to help us investigate what happened and to provide as much support as possible for those affected.’
