A sadistic mother who stabbed to death her two teenaged daughters has been told she must serve at least 31 years behind bars.
Rekha Kumari-Baker, 41, stabbed Davina, 16, and Jasmine, 13, a total of 69 times with kitchen knives she had purchased two days earlier.
Cambridge Crown Court told her she will NOT be eligible for parole until 2040, when she will be 72.
Indian-born Kumari-Baker went on her bloody rampage after being ditched by her lover, Jeff Powell, and quit her job as a waitress.
She had also become jealous of her former husband, David Baker, 44, a successful businessman who had found love with a new partner since their 2003 divorce.
She then killed her two daughters in a frenzied knife attack whilst they were in bed to 'wreak havoc' on her ex-husband's happy life
The justice system of England & Wales deals with prisoners, especially muderers, more brutally than anywhere else in Europe, including Russia (except in situations where a country imposes a death penalty).
There are more prisoners serving life sentences in England & Wales than the rest of Europe put together, including Russia, which has a huge population. There are almost 12,100 lifers in England & Wales and almost 11,500 in all of the rest of Europe.
England & Wales is also one of the few countries in Europe to hand life sentences to women and children. Anyone who commits murder in England & Wales automatcially receives a life imprisonment.
Probably not coincidentally, England & Wales also has one of the lowest murder rates in Europe.
Scotland (which has one of the highest murder rates in Europe) has a separate legal system - the release of the Lockerbie bomber was Scotland's decision only.
The life sentence is the replacement in England & Wales for the death penalty.
Mother who killed two daughters is jailed for minimum of 31 years as father speaks of 'the horror of that night'
By Andrew Levy
22nd September 2009
Daily Mail
A mother who killed her two daughters in a frenzied knife attack to 'wreak havoc' on her ex-husband's happy life has been jailed today for a minimum of 31 years.
Rekha Kumari-Baker, 41, stabbed Davina, 16, and Jasmine, 13, a total of 69 times with kitchen knives she had purchased two days earlier.
Indian-born Kumari-Baker remained emotionless at Cambridge Crown Court as she was given an automatic life sentence and told she should not be eligible for parole until 2040, when she will be 72.
This is 33 years in total but takes into account the two years and 92 days she has spent on remand.
The girls' father, David Baker (right), spoke of his haunting grief caused by the murder of his two girls by Rekha Kumari-Baker
During her trial a court heard how she had become jealous of her former husband, David Baker, 44, a successful businessman who had found love with a new partner since their 2003 divorce.
Kumari-Baker, on the other hand, had just been ditched by her long-term lover, Jeff Powell, and had quit her waitressing job.
She had admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to an 'abnormality of the mind' and evidence was heard about how she had complained of suffering from depression.
But a jury took just 35 minutes to reach unanimous verdicts in two counts of murder.
IF YOU ARE TO COMMIT MURDER, DON'T DO IT IN ENGLAND & WALES
London's Wormwood Scubs Prison
There are over 12,090 people serving life sentences in England & Wales, more than the rest of Europe put together, including Scotland, which has a separate judicial system to England & Wales, and Russia.
In the rest of Europe, incuding Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, there are 11,477 people serving life sentences.
Each person sentenced to life will have a tariff set, which will be the minimum time that they will spend in custody for the purposes of retribution and deterrence. Once this has expired, they will NOT be released automatically, but will be when the Parole Board assesses that the risk they present to the public has sufficiently reduced in order that it is safe to release them.
The Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduced normal tariffs of 15 years, 30 years and whole life for the offence of murder.
There are currently 50 prisoners in England & Wales who will die in prison - they will never be released.
Of those serving life sentences in England & Wales, only 47 have been released over the last four years.
Now Kumari-Baker joins that huge population of lifers in England & Wales.
'Most people will find it inexplicable that a mother could kill her own children, and you have given no explanation for it,' Mr Justice Bean told her.
'You were certainly upset at the breakdown of your relationship with Jeff Powell. I think this mild depression was probably combined with a wish to retaliate against David Baker and destroy the happiness in his life.
'You knew quite well what you were doing and you were not mentally ill. The crimes were, as the prosecution rightly put it, murder, full stop.'
Killed in their sleep: Davina, 16, and her 13-year-old sister Jasmine
The sisters were butchered in the small hours of June 13, 2007, as they slept in their rooms in Kumari-Baker's house in Stretham, Cambridgeshire.
Davina, who was often at loggerheads with her mother, was living with her father at the time but had been lured to the house by the offer of a shopping spree.
In a victim impact statement read out in court, the girls' heartbroken father, who was too upset to attend the hearing, said since the killings he struggled to sleep, had lost his job, and been forced to move away from Cambridgeshire.
'To have them taken from me in such a brutal way and by the woman who was their mother and charged with their care has had an incalculable effect on me,' he said.
'I suffer from strong feelings of guilt that I didn't see it coming and helplessness that I have not been able to do anything about it.
'I remain haunted by the horror of that night and probably will remain so for a very long time.
'Rekha Kumari-Baker always believed her children were an extension of herself, existing to further her own life ambitions.
'She tore them from us all and life can't be the same for those who remain. The ripple effects of their killings stretch out far indeed.'
The father of Davina, 16, left, and her 13-year-old sister Jasmine, said every birthday had been 'almost unbearable'
A police officer stands outside the house in Stretham near Ely, Cambridgeshire, following murder in 2007
Speaking outside court after Monday's verdict, Detective Inspector Jim McCrorieof Cambridgeshire Police said the case was the worst he had seen in 25 years of service.
A serious case review was launched by Cambridgeshire Local Safeguarding Children Board after the killings to investigate whether the social services, teachers, doctors and police could have done anything to prevent the double tragedy.
In 2004, Kumari-Baker had told Davina in front of a teacher at Impington Village College near Cambridge: 'I wish you were dead.'
Staff at the school had told police Kumari-Baker was 'volatile, excitable, erratic and could become aggressive'.
And social services began monitoring the family after she complained of suffering from depression and was referred to a counsellor by a GP.
The reports conclusions have been postponed to take into account the court's findings.
Board chairman Felicity Schofield said: 'The executive summary of the serious case review will be published... when the review has been completed and evaluated by Ofsted.'
Difficult: The court document of a note written by Kumari-Baker where she explains why she killed her daughters
dailymail.co.uk
Rekha Kumari-Baker, 41, stabbed Davina, 16, and Jasmine, 13, a total of 69 times with kitchen knives she had purchased two days earlier.
Cambridge Crown Court told her she will NOT be eligible for parole until 2040, when she will be 72.
Indian-born Kumari-Baker went on her bloody rampage after being ditched by her lover, Jeff Powell, and quit her job as a waitress.
She had also become jealous of her former husband, David Baker, 44, a successful businessman who had found love with a new partner since their 2003 divorce.
She then killed her two daughters in a frenzied knife attack whilst they were in bed to 'wreak havoc' on her ex-husband's happy life
The justice system of England & Wales deals with prisoners, especially muderers, more brutally than anywhere else in Europe, including Russia (except in situations where a country imposes a death penalty).
There are more prisoners serving life sentences in England & Wales than the rest of Europe put together, including Russia, which has a huge population. There are almost 12,100 lifers in England & Wales and almost 11,500 in all of the rest of Europe.
England & Wales is also one of the few countries in Europe to hand life sentences to women and children. Anyone who commits murder in England & Wales automatcially receives a life imprisonment.
Probably not coincidentally, England & Wales also has one of the lowest murder rates in Europe.
Scotland (which has one of the highest murder rates in Europe) has a separate legal system - the release of the Lockerbie bomber was Scotland's decision only.
The life sentence is the replacement in England & Wales for the death penalty.
Mother who killed two daughters is jailed for minimum of 31 years as father speaks of 'the horror of that night'
By Andrew Levy
22nd September 2009
Daily Mail
A mother who killed her two daughters in a frenzied knife attack to 'wreak havoc' on her ex-husband's happy life has been jailed today for a minimum of 31 years.
Rekha Kumari-Baker, 41, stabbed Davina, 16, and Jasmine, 13, a total of 69 times with kitchen knives she had purchased two days earlier.
Indian-born Kumari-Baker remained emotionless at Cambridge Crown Court as she was given an automatic life sentence and told she should not be eligible for parole until 2040, when she will be 72.
This is 33 years in total but takes into account the two years and 92 days she has spent on remand.
The girls' father, David Baker (right), spoke of his haunting grief caused by the murder of his two girls by Rekha Kumari-Baker
During her trial a court heard how she had become jealous of her former husband, David Baker, 44, a successful businessman who had found love with a new partner since their 2003 divorce.
Kumari-Baker, on the other hand, had just been ditched by her long-term lover, Jeff Powell, and had quit her waitressing job.
She had admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to an 'abnormality of the mind' and evidence was heard about how she had complained of suffering from depression.
But a jury took just 35 minutes to reach unanimous verdicts in two counts of murder.
IF YOU ARE TO COMMIT MURDER, DON'T DO IT IN ENGLAND & WALES
London's Wormwood Scubs Prison
There are over 12,090 people serving life sentences in England & Wales, more than the rest of Europe put together, including Scotland, which has a separate judicial system to England & Wales, and Russia.
In the rest of Europe, incuding Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, there are 11,477 people serving life sentences.
Each person sentenced to life will have a tariff set, which will be the minimum time that they will spend in custody for the purposes of retribution and deterrence. Once this has expired, they will NOT be released automatically, but will be when the Parole Board assesses that the risk they present to the public has sufficiently reduced in order that it is safe to release them.
The Criminal Justice Act 2003 introduced normal tariffs of 15 years, 30 years and whole life for the offence of murder.
There are currently 50 prisoners in England & Wales who will die in prison - they will never be released.
Of those serving life sentences in England & Wales, only 47 have been released over the last four years.
Now Kumari-Baker joins that huge population of lifers in England & Wales.
'Most people will find it inexplicable that a mother could kill her own children, and you have given no explanation for it,' Mr Justice Bean told her.
'You were certainly upset at the breakdown of your relationship with Jeff Powell. I think this mild depression was probably combined with a wish to retaliate against David Baker and destroy the happiness in his life.
'You knew quite well what you were doing and you were not mentally ill. The crimes were, as the prosecution rightly put it, murder, full stop.'
Killed in their sleep: Davina, 16, and her 13-year-old sister Jasmine
The sisters were butchered in the small hours of June 13, 2007, as they slept in their rooms in Kumari-Baker's house in Stretham, Cambridgeshire.
Davina, who was often at loggerheads with her mother, was living with her father at the time but had been lured to the house by the offer of a shopping spree.
In a victim impact statement read out in court, the girls' heartbroken father, who was too upset to attend the hearing, said since the killings he struggled to sleep, had lost his job, and been forced to move away from Cambridgeshire.
'To have them taken from me in such a brutal way and by the woman who was their mother and charged with their care has had an incalculable effect on me,' he said.
'I suffer from strong feelings of guilt that I didn't see it coming and helplessness that I have not been able to do anything about it.
'I remain haunted by the horror of that night and probably will remain so for a very long time.
'Rekha Kumari-Baker always believed her children were an extension of herself, existing to further her own life ambitions.
'She tore them from us all and life can't be the same for those who remain. The ripple effects of their killings stretch out far indeed.'
The father of Davina, 16, left, and her 13-year-old sister Jasmine, said every birthday had been 'almost unbearable'
A police officer stands outside the house in Stretham near Ely, Cambridgeshire, following murder in 2007
Speaking outside court after Monday's verdict, Detective Inspector Jim McCrorieof Cambridgeshire Police said the case was the worst he had seen in 25 years of service.
A serious case review was launched by Cambridgeshire Local Safeguarding Children Board after the killings to investigate whether the social services, teachers, doctors and police could have done anything to prevent the double tragedy.
In 2004, Kumari-Baker had told Davina in front of a teacher at Impington Village College near Cambridge: 'I wish you were dead.'
Staff at the school had told police Kumari-Baker was 'volatile, excitable, erratic and could become aggressive'.
And social services began monitoring the family after she complained of suffering from depression and was referred to a counsellor by a GP.
The reports conclusions have been postponed to take into account the court's findings.
Board chairman Felicity Schofield said: 'The executive summary of the serious case review will be published... when the review has been completed and evaluated by Ofsted.'
Difficult: The court document of a note written by Kumari-Baker where she explains why she killed her daughters
dailymail.co.uk
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