A mother in Britain was sentenced to at least 32 years behind bars this week for murdering her two daughters who she blamed for interfering with her sex life.
Louise Porton, 23, suffocated Lexi Draper, 3, on January 15, 2018, and weeks later, 17-month-old Scarlett Vaughan died a similar death at the hands of her mother. The Independent reported that Porton was heard laughing and using FaceTime with a man at a funeral home two days before Vaughan’s death.
An inspection of Porton’s phone uncovered previous searches for“five weird things that happen when you die” and a question about how long it takes a dead body to “go cold up to the shoulder.” Jurors learned that both girls had injuries consistent with suffocation—with Vaughan showing signs of neck tissue bleeding that suggested her neck was compressed, according to the news outlet.
Warwickshire police claimed they recovered evidence indicating that Porton tried to kill Draper twice in January 2018 before succeeding. While Draper was in the hospital, roughly a week before her death, Porton took topless photos in a bathroom and arranged to have sex for money with a man she met online.
Prosecutor Oliver Saxby reportedly said, “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.”
The Guardian reported that Porton described herself as a model to possible sex partners—and had accepted 41 friend requests on the dating app MeetMe the day after the 3-year-old’s death. Reports stated that the “calm and emotionless” mother got her gas tank filled before calling for help for her youngest daughter, who was dying or had died in the car.
A landlord testified that from August 2016 until early November 2017, she spent “more and more time” caring for Porton’s daughters as the mother was out “doing social things.”
“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,” the judge reportedly told Porton at sentencing. “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.”
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[Featured image: Lexi Draper and Scarlett Vaughan/West Mercia police, Facebook]
