Veronique John: Stoke-on-Trent mum asked for death penalty after killing her two children, jury told

Veronique John is accused of stabbing her son Ethan John over 20 times and causing brain damage to her daughter Elizabeth John. After these attacks, she allegedly went to a car wash in a dressing gown and stabbed her partner Nathan John in the stomach.

During a trial-of-facts hearing at Nottingham Crown Court, it was revealed that John then returned home, dialled 999, and told the operator, "I am calling to report I just killed my two kids." When the police arrived at her Stoke-on-Trent home on June 11 last year, the charity shop worker reportedly said: "If you have a gun shoot me. I am not a monster – he was going to take them from me."

It was also alleged that John, who was said to be enraged after being arrested for assaulting her husband while suspecting him of having an affair, told officers during an interview:, "I didn’t want my husband to get them."

She added: "It’s something I was thinking about for a long time – just kill myself and the kids. Unless you guys are offering me the death penalty I have nothing else to say. I did it because I love my children – to protect the children. If there’s any possible way I could be put to death, I would like that. I mean it 100%."

Prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith, in his opening statement, described John’s "rage was boiling just under the surface" a day after she was arrested for assaulting her husband with a piece of wood. Mr Grieves-Smith informed the jurors on Monday that John killed her children hours after conducting a "chilling" internet search asking: "Can a foreigner be charged with murder in the UK?"

John, of Flax Street, Stoke, faces charges of two counts of murder, attempted murder, and an alternative count of wounding, but has been declared unfit to plead. The 50-year-old, currently receiving treatment at a secure hospital, was not present in the dock for the Crown’s opening statements.

The court heard that John and her husband had significant issues in their relationship, including her opposition to him having an internet-enabled phone.

On June 9 last year, the jury was told John became angry and struck her husband with a wooden slat while their children were preparing for bed. Mr John subsequently made a police complaint, leading to John's arrest on the night of June 10. She was issued a community resolution notice after being interviewed under caution.

Shortly after 2pm on June 11, John went to the car wash where her husband had spent the night and stabbed him in the stomach. In a subsequent 999 call, Mr John said: "My wife just came to the car wash and stabbed me – she said that she had just killed the kids."

The prosecutor added: "What happened on the 11th of June didn’t come out of the blue. Tension grew in the days before. That day she just erupted, killed her children and attacked Nathan."

Ethan was found in a bedroom with a 17cm-long neck wound and pronounced dead, while Elizabeth was discovered in the living room with head trauma and multiple sharp force injuries, including to her stomach. Just before John went to the car wash, a neighbour reported hearing "high-pitched screaming and crying that lasted for a little while."

Before the prosecution presented its case, trial judge Mr Justice Choudhury explained to the jury that their task during the six-day trial was to determine whether she committed the acts charged against her.

The judge said: "This trial is slightly unusual – the defendant has been found to be under a disability. She is unable to participate in the trial in any meaningful sense. Your task is to decide whether the defendant did the acts of unlawfully inflicting injuries on and killing Ethan and Elizabeth which led to their deaths, and unlawfully inflicting injuries to Mr John."

He also stressed the importance of an objective assessment of the evidence, acknowledging the strong emotions such cases naturally evoke.

The trial continues.