A mother who murdered her two young daughters has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years.

Louise Porton, 23, killed Lexi, three, and 17-month-old Scarlett in January and February last year after they "got in the way" of her sex life.

Porton, formerly of Skiddaw in Rugby, Warwickshire, accepted 41 friend requests on a dating app just a day after the first child, Lexi, died and was described by prosecutors as being "calm and emotionless" following Scarlett's death.

Image: Porton's actions were described as 'evil' and 'calculated' by the judge

Porton was heard laughing at a funeral parlour by a funeral arranger, who told her trial that he saw her "using FaceTime and that she was speaking to a man".

Lexi was admitted to hospital with breathing difficulties in early January 2018 and discharged with antibiotics.


On 15 January, when paramedics responded to an emergency call, they found she had died.

Just 18 days later, Porton dialled 111 saying Scarlett was unwell in the car while she drove her to hospital.

When emergency services attended, they found Scarlett had been dead for some time.

Warwickshire Police said it was "clear from the evidence" of damning internet searches about death and Lexi's hospital admissions that Porton had twice tried to kill her daughter before eventually succeeding.

She 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".

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 had met through a website.

Porton sat in the dock throughout the hearing, with her head resting on her hands, looking down at her feet.

Jailing her on Friday, Mrs Justice Yip described her actions as "evil" and "calculated", and told her: "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.

"Instead you took their young lives away."

Image: Louise Porton with Lexi and Scarlett

The judge added: "One way or another you squeezed the life out of each of your daughters, only calling the emergency services when you knew they were dead.

"I am sure at the time of the deaths, you intended to kill each of your daughters. Why you did so, only you will know."

The judge said she was sure Porton had been responsible for events leading to Lexi's earlier admissions to hospital on 2 an 4 January.

The judge added that the night Lexi was killed, Porton made further "sinister" internet searches about death.

"I am left in no doubt that you delayed calling for an ambulance until you were sure she was dead and could not be resuscitated," she said.

The judge added that post-mortem examinations revealed signs of previous injuries, possibly caused by Porton, while Scarlett "had signs of prior airway obstruction".

She told Porton that she had carried out "the grossest abuse of trust" against her girls.

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

In a statement that was read to the court on his behalf, Lexi and Scarlett's father, Chris Draper, said he was "broken".

"I don't know how I will go on as I have nothing to live for. Why did Louise do something so evil to our daughters?

"Maybe if social services had listened to me, they would still be alive today.

"I hate Louise. No punishment will ever be enough".