Crown didn't accept plea and she is on trial at Bradford Crown Court

She has admitted killings and previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter

Lupidi told police 'she was scared partner Carl Weaver, 31, would kill her'

Girls were found at a women's refuge with nine chest stab wounds each

A mother who stabbed her two young daughters to death said afterwards: 'If I can't have them, he can't have them either', a jury has heard.

Samira Lupidi, 24, sobbed in the dock as she went on trial accused of murdering 17-month-old Jasmine Weaver and three-year-old Evelyn Lupidi at a women's refuge.

At one point, Lupidi was so upset she had to leave the courtroom as prosecutors outlined how the girls were found in their beds, each with nine stab wounds to the chest.

Samira Lupidi, left and right, 24, is on trial at Bradford Crown Court accused of murdering her daughters

Evelyn Lupidi, left, three and Jasmine Weaver, right, one, were found stabbed to death at a women's refuge

Lupidi, pictured with her daughters, wanted to stab herself after the killings but could not go through with it, the court heard

Peter Moulson, QC, prosecuting, told the jury at Bradford Crown Court how Italian-born Lupidi and her two girls had ended up in the refuge on November 17 last year, after she called police to her home in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire.

Mr Moulson said the defendant had told officers that the girls' father - her partner, Carl Weaver, 31 - had slapped her twice the night before and she was scared he was going to kill her.

The prosecutor described how, the morning after she was admitted, staff at the refuge found Lupidi running out of the flat she had been allocated and shouting that she had 'killed the children'.

He said the worker noted her hands were smeared with blood.

Mr Moulson said Lupidi told another member of staff: 'It's his fault. Now he has a reason to kill me. If I can't have them, he can't have them either. He was coming to get me. I had to do this.'

The prosecutor said a 14in kitchen knife with a 10in blade was found on one of the children's beds.

He said that after Lupidi was arrested, she said: 'I know what I have done. My life is nothing now.'

The jury heard Lupidi told police that Mr Weaver was 'psychologically and financially controlling', that he deprived her of money and he restricted her contact with family in Italy.

On 16 November, last year, whilst Mr Weaver was at work Lupidi called the police to their home in Church Lane, Heckmondwike, and alleged he had hit her on the arm and leg the previous evening.

Mr Moulson told the jury Lupidi believed Mr Weaver wanted rid of her after the baptism of the girls on the coming weekend.

PC Kirsty Wright, who took Lupidi to the refuge after responding to the allegation of domestic abuse at Lupidi's home, said in a statement read to the court that Jasmine and Evelyn were due to be baptised on November 21 and Lupidi feared that Mr Weaver would use the occasion to leave her and take the girls with him.

The jury heard Lupidi, pictured with her daughters, feared her partner would leave her after their baptism

Carl Weaver, left, with Jasmine, and right, was said to be 'devastated' after the girls' deaths

Lupidi, of West Yorkshire, pictured with Evelyn, told staff at the refuge she feared her partner Carl Weaver would kill her and 'if she couldn't have her children, he couldn't either', the court heard

PC Wright said: 'She was scared what Carl was going to do with her and that she wanted to move back to Italy.'

Lupidi had told officers that she had heard Mr Weaver say in conversation with his brother Chris Weaver, and brother's girlfriend, Amy Sutton, that Mr Weaver was going to abandon her.

Mr Weaver is alleged to have said: 'On Saturday someone won't come back with us.'

PC Wright's statement added: 'He said he would take her in the car and leave her so 'some paedo' will find her.

'She said Mr Weaver had said the children would be 'better off without her'.'

In another statement, an unidentified refuge worker said Lupidi had told her that her partner was planning to 'get rid of her' after the girls' planned baptism.

She said the defendant told her: 'He's going to do something bad to me.'

The refuge worker also explained how she later found the girls lying stabbed on the bed after she was called by a colleague.

Lupidi, pictured with Evelyn, told police her partner had attacked her and was scared he would leave her

She said she had only seen Lupidi a short time before, carrying Jasmine.

Another refuge worker, said in a statement that Lupidi said after the killings: 'He said I'm a bad mother. I am now.'

The refuge worker said: 'She kept saying she loved her kids.'

'I COULDN'T LOOK AT HER': REFUGE WORKER TELLS HARROWING TALE OF HOW SHE FOUND DEAD CHILDREN A worker at the refuge where the two children were killed described how she 'couldn't look at' the mother when she realised what she had done. The refuge worker who witnessed the aftermath of the killings, told the court how she found Samira Lupidi in her pyjamas with bloodstained hands. When she walked into the flat, she found the children covered in stab wounds, she said. The refuge worker said: 'As I entered the flat I could see Jasmine lying there in her nappy and vest. 'I could see blood by her head. Her whole chest looked open with gashes in it. 'She [Lupidi] didn't seem to have a lot of blood on her. She was wearing a pair of pyjamas. 'She said she had told her mum and the girls' dad what she had done. 'I couldn't look at her because of what she had done. 'She told me in broken English that she thought her boyfriend would do something bad after that. 'She thought her boyfriend, his brother and his brother's girlfriend were all plotting against her.' Advertisement

Lupidi had wanted to stab herself after killing her daughters but was unable to go through with it, the court heard.

She was said to be pacing around the refuge office in an agitated state and constantly on her mobile to her mother in Italy as staff called emergency services.

The refuge's manager said: 'Samira was saything something about her beautiful babies but I could not understand her.

'She said that he [Mr Weaver] had said to her that morning he was coming to get her babies.

'She said: 'Him and his family can now say that I'm a bad mum and I killed my babies'.

'She said that she was going to strangle them [the girls] but couldn't do it and was going to kill herself.'

Mr Moulson explained to the jury that Lupidi admits killing the children and has pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

He said the defendant denies two counts of murder, and much of the case will revolve around her mental state at the time of the killings.

Mr Moulson said the jury they must set aside feelings of 'revulsion, anger and sympathy'.

The court heard Lupidi met Mr Weaver via the internet when he was visiting his grandma in Italy.

After giving birth to Evelyn in 2012 they moved to Yorkshire where Jasmine was born in 2014.

Lupidi had wanted to stab herself after killing her daughters but was unable to go through with it, the court heard.

Lupidi was pacing around the refuge office in an agitated state and constantly on her mobile to her mother in Italy as staff called emergency services.

Lupidi, pictured, admitted killing the girls and pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but the Crown rejected it and she is now on trial for murder at Bradford Crown Court

Wearing black trousers, a white shirt and a grey cardigan, and with her long dark hair tied back, Lupidi sat in the dock with two security guards and an interpreter, clearly upset for the entirety of the prosecution opening statement.

Three police vans attended the scene of the deaths, and the area was cordoned off for several hours as forensic officers searched for evidence.

Mr Weaver, 31, was described as 'devastated' over the deaths of his daughters, according to relatives, who were in the public gallery today.

Speaking in the wake of their deaths , his aunt Julie Britton said: 'He's just absolutely devastated. It's like a bomb has gone off in the middle of our family.'