Mother 'calm' over dead children

A mother who killed her young son and daughter in a Spanish hotel room was "astonishingly calm" when she showed police their bodies, a court has heard.

Lianne Smith, 45, has admitted smothering five-year-old Rebecca and 11-month-old Daniel with a plastic bag at the Miramar Hotel in Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava in May 2010.

She is on trial at the Provincial Court in Girona, north-east Spain, so a jury can determine whether she is criminally responsible for the children's deaths.

Her defence is seeking an acquittal, claiming she was in a state of "psychiatric disturbance" and suffering insurmountable fear when the tragedy happened. If found guilty, she faces a total of 38 years in prison.

The police officers, who were identified to the court by their badge numbers as is customary in Spain, all agreed that Smith seemed calm when she confessed to the killings the day after carrying them out.

The first officer at the scene, Agent 504 of Lloret de Mar local police, said he was sent to the Miramar after a call from the hotel's reception. A guest staying in Room 101 had asked for police and an ambulance to be called, he said.

He described the moment he entered the room, saying: "I closed the door and told the woman to stay still.

"She just pointed to the bed, and I saw little knuckles, a baby's knuckles, pointing out from under the sheets.

"First I found a baby and then a little girl, and I could see they were both dead.

"The woman was calm, she was not saying anything, so I went out on the balcony and called the control room to let them know what was happening."