A mother has been convicted of murdering her two young daughters after they "got in the way" of her sex life.

Louise Porton, 23, suffocated three-year-old Lexi on 15 January last year and then killed 17-month-old Scarlett about two weeks later on 1 February.

Both had symptoms consistent with deliberate airway obstruction and Scarlett had signs of bleeding in her neck tissue, suggesting neck compression, jurors heard.

Image: Louise Porton with her daughters Lexi (out front) and Scarlett at the Brewers Fayre in Rugby

Prosecutor Oliver Saxby QC said specialist doctors had found no "natural reason" why either child had died.

He conceded that being a mother of two young children would have been a burden for the defendant, adding: "No doubt, she would have needed time to herself.


"But in the context of what was later to happen - in the context of two unexplained deaths consistent with deliberate airway obstruction - it is hard not to draw the conclusion that, for the defendant, at times, her two children got in the way of her doing what she wanted, when she wanted and with whom she wanted."

Porton accepted 41 friend requests on a dating app just a day after Lexi died, and was described by prosecutors as being "calm and emotionless" following Scarlett's death, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

Image: Louise Porton and Lexi and Scarlett return home hours before Lexi's death

When Lexi was ill in hospital, just over a week before she died, Porton took topless photos in the toilets and was arranging to perform sex acts for money with a man she met through a website.

Also, Porton was heard "laughing" at a funeral parlour two days before killing Scarlett.

Prosecutors said it had appeared to the funeral arranger that Porton was "using FaceTime and that she was speaking to a man".

Warwickshire Police, who seized her phone, said Porton's internet searches about death and Lexi's two hospital admissions, in early January 2018, showed the woman had twice tried to kill her daughter before eventually succeeding.

Between 2-4 January 2018, she allegedly used her Google account to search for "Why did my 3 year(-old) stop breathing", and "Why do toddler having a fit stop them breathing".

After that she allegedly looked online for "can you actually die if you have a blocked nose and cover your mouth with tape".

Porton also searched "how long after drowning can someone be resuscitated?" and accessed an article called "Toddler brought back to life after nearly drowning", jurors heard.

Image: Louise Porton has been found guilty of murdering her young daughters

She denied wrongdoing, telling police: "My children were never an inconvenience to me and I accommodated my lifestyle and personal life around them.

"I still don't know how my daughters died, or what caused it."

Porton, formerly of Skiddaw, Rugby, Warwickshire, will be sentenced today.