Feb 18 2011
A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a mother accused of killing two of her children in a house fire in Derbyshire.
Fiona Adams, 24, is alleged to have murdered her five-year-old daughter Niamh and son Cayden, two, in the blaze in Buxton last April.
Miss Adams escaped from the house in Edale Way, with youngest child Kiernan, by jumping from an upstairs window just before midnight on April 23.
Adams denies killing Niamh and Cayden, as well two other charges of grievous bodily harm and arson with intent.
At a previous hearing at Nottingham Crown Court Adams, who has visible burn scars on her neck and chest, told jurors she would never have tried to hurt her children and did not leave Niamh and Cayden to die in the house that night.
When asked by defence counsel Shaun Smith QC if she would have wanted to kill or hurt her children or kill herself, she broke down as she replied: "No, I have never wanted to hurt them."
She said she took took Niamh and Cayden, who shared a bedroom, into her bedroom when the fire took hold. Adams said she opened the window to "chuck the children out of it".
She said she remembered letting Kiernan go, then turning round and not being able to see her other children.
The prosecution claims she started the blaze deliberately to create "drama" to get attention from partner James Maynard, who had cheated on her in the past.
She admitted her relationship with Mr Maynard had its ups and downs, including his infidelity, and the court heard she took two overdoses in the space of one week in June 2008.
http://www.fenlandcitizen.co.uk/news/jury_out_in_fire_deaths_trial_1_2424817
A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a mother accused of killing two of her children in a house fire in Derbyshire.
Fiona Adams, 24, is alleged to have murdered her five-year-old daughter Niamh and son Cayden, two, in the blaze in Buxton last April.
Miss Adams escaped from the house in Edale Way, with youngest child Kiernan, by jumping from an upstairs window just before midnight on April 23.
Adams denies killing Niamh and Cayden, as well two other charges of grievous bodily harm and arson with intent.
At a previous hearing at Nottingham Crown Court Adams, who has visible burn scars on her neck and chest, told jurors she would never have tried to hurt her children and did not leave Niamh and Cayden to die in the house that night.
When asked by defence counsel Shaun Smith QC if she would have wanted to kill or hurt her children or kill herself, she broke down as she replied: "No, I have never wanted to hurt them."
She said she took took Niamh and Cayden, who shared a bedroom, into her bedroom when the fire took hold. Adams said she opened the window to "chuck the children out of it".
She said she remembered letting Kiernan go, then turning round and not being able to see her other children.
The prosecution claims she started the blaze deliberately to create "drama" to get attention from partner James Maynard, who had cheated on her in the past.
She admitted her relationship with Mr Maynard had its ups and downs, including his infidelity, and the court heard she took two overdoses in the space of one week in June 2008.
http://www.fenlandcitizen.co.uk/news/jury_out_in_fire_deaths_trial_1_2424817
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