LIANNE SMITH FROM LICHFIELD SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS IN SPAIN FOR MURDERING HER CHILDREN IN HOTEL ROOM

In a tragic and disturbing case that has shocked both Spain and the United Kingdom, Lianne Smith, a 45-year-old woman from Lichfield, Staffordshire, was sentenced to a lengthy prison term after being found guilty of the brutal murders of her two young children, Daniel and Rebecca. The heinous crime took place in a hotel room in the Costa Brava resort of Lloret de Mar, where Smith had taken her children for what was supposed to be a holiday.

Following a four-day trial at Girona provincial court in north-east Spain, the jury convicted Smith of double murder. The court heard how she had meticulously planned and carried out the killings, suffocating her children while they were sleeping, rendering them completely defenseless. The judge, Adolfo Garcia Morales, described the act as a clear case of premeditation, emphasizing that the children, Daniel, who was just 11 months old, and Rebecca, aged five, were both entirely incapable of defending themselves against their mother’s murderous intent.

During the proceedings, the prosecution requested the maximum sentence of 34 years, but the judge ultimately sentenced Smith to 15 years for each murder, totaling 30 years in prison. The judge detailed how Smith had taken her sleeping children from their bed, pinning their legs down with her own to prevent movement, and then placing a plastic bag over their heads until they suffocated. Smith herself described the act in her own words, revealing that she had suffocated Daniel first, stating, “I put a bag on his head. All of the head was in. [I knew when he was dead] because I was holding him.” When asked if Rebecca had resisted, she simply replied, “She moved, yes.”

Following the murders, Smith spent the night in the hotel room cuddling her deceased children, writing heartfelt notes to them expressing her love and regret. One note read: “I love you very much. I wanted to give you a lovely life together. I’m very sorry.”

Smith’s background is marked by a history of disturbing relationships and obsession. She was a former manager at Cumbria County Council’s children’s services department and had a complex relationship with her partner, Martin Smith, a TV psychic originally from North Shields. The couple, who were not married but shared the same surname, met in October 1992 through a dating agency. At the time, Lianne was going through a divorce from her first husband and was living in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear. Martin Smith, who had previously been a singer in local clubs, was later convicted of repeatedly raping a minor, Sarah Richardson, from a previous relationship. He was deported to the UK in May 2010 to face trial, and subsequently sentenced to 16 years in prison before hanging himself in Manchester in January of this year.

In 2007, the couple moved from Cumbria to Lichfield, but their stay was brief. They eventually fled to Spain with Rebecca, and Daniel was born there in June 2009. The court noted that it was unclear who the biological father of Rebecca and Daniel was. Smith’s fears of losing her children to social services appeared to have driven her to commit the murders. She believed that her children would be taken away from her after her partner’s arrest. Her partner, Martin Smith, was arrested in Barcelona in May 2010 on child sex charges, which added to her fears and instability.

After the arrest of Martin Smith, Lianne took Rebecca and Daniel to the Costa Brava resort of Lloret de Mar, where she claimed to have given them a “perfect holiday.” However, her mental state deteriorated, and she ultimately murdered her children in their hotel room. The following day, after attempting to take her own life, she instructed hotel reception to call the police. During her trial, Smith refused to answer more than 100 questions posed by prosecutor Victor Pillado Quintas. The court was shown a chilling video of her calmly confessing to detectives, sitting on a bed in an adjacent hotel room, where she admitted to ending her children’s lives.

In her confession, she stated, “I have ended the lives of my two children. I gave the children a three-day holiday, a perfect holiday. I knew they were going to take my children to England. My intention was that my children and me together would go. It wasn’t just the children.”

Smith, who previously worked as a children’s services manager in Cumbria, described how she had suffocated Daniel first, saying, “I put a bag on his head. All of the head was in. [I knew when he was dead] because I was holding him.” When asked if Rebecca had resisted, she replied simply, “She moved, yes.” She then spent the night cuddling her dead children and writing notes of apology and love to them.

The court also highlighted Smith’s pathological obsession with her partner, Martin Smith, which appeared to have influenced her actions. Her relationship with him began in October 1992, and they lived together in Cumbria before moving to Lichfield in 2007. Their flight to Spain was driven by Martin Smith’s criminal activities, including his conviction for child sex offenses. The tragic case has left a lasting scar on the community and has raised serious questions about mental health, parental responsibility, and the impact of criminal relationships on vulnerable individuals.