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Sentencing Remarks of Mrs Justice Yip: R v Louise Porton

Judgment Cited in Precedent Map Related
Vincent
JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date02 August 2019
Docket NumberT20197175
Subject MatterSentencing Remarks
CourtCrown Court
1
REGINA
-v-
LOUISE PORTON
1. Louise Porton, you are now 23 years old and stand convicted by the jury of the
murder of your two children, Lexi, who was 3 years old, and Scarlett, aged 16
months.
2. There is only one sentence that the law allows to be passed for murder: that is a
mandatory life sentence. I am required to specify the minimum term which must
elapse before you can be released on licence.
3. On 15 January 2018, you claimed that you had found Lexi dead in her bed. An initial
post-mortem examination did not identify any obvious cause of death. The results of
further tests were outstanding on 1st February 2018 when, 17 days after her sister’s
death, you killed Scarlett.
4. As with Lexi, you tried to pass Scarlett’s death off as an unexpected natural death.
Having killed her in the room at the hotel where you were then staying, you carried
Scarlett’s body out to your car and pretended you were driving to hospital to have her
checked as she had become unwell. You called 111 and claimed Scarlett had stopped
breathing in her car seat.
5. The truth is both children died because you deliberately obstructed their airways.
Scarlett’s neck showed clear signs of compression. Blood found on a pillow
suggested smothering may also have been involved. The signs in Lexi were more
subtle but piecing the evidence together left no doubt that you had also killed her.

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