A biology teacher drowned her three-year-old daughter to “protect” her from her father after the breakdown of their marriage.

Claire Colebourn, 36, hit "rock bottom" after her high-flying husband Michael, who she met at university, ended their 16-year-relationship, a court heard.

She woke their daughter Bethan at their home in Fordingbridge, Hampshire, in the early hours of October 19 last year, led her to the bath and drowned her by holding her body down under the water, before making multiple suicide attempts.

She was found guilty of murder by a unanimous verdict at Winchester Crown Court yesterday and will be sentenced on Monday morning.

The ex-sixth form teacher initially denied all memory of the incident, but later recalled how Bethan agreed to have a bath in the middle of the night at her mother's instruction, telling police: "Sadly, my little girl trusted me completely."