Debt-hit mother drowns her 'happy talented' son

A mother drowned her 11-year-old son after being driven to despair by debts of £290,000.

Jennifer Taylor was today sentenced to be detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act for what was described as an "appalling human tragedy".

The body of her son James was discovered by police in the foetal position in the bath at their home in New Ash Green, near Dartford. The 45-year-old mother had dialled 999, telling police she had also tried to take her own life. At a hearing in March, Taylor denied murdering her son, a grammar school boy, but later pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Judge Andrew Patience QC at Maidstone crown court today blamed intense financial pressures for the tragedy in which harassment from creditors left Taylor, who had racked up debt on six credit cards and twice remortgaged her house, "severely depressed" and unable to cope. Consumer groups called for a crackdown on debt collection agencies.

Sentencing her, Judge Patience said "the life of a happy, bright, talented boy was wasted".

He said: "There is no question but that she adored her son and had tried to do her best for him but had got deeply into debt in her efforts to do so. The financial pressures upon her became intense and she developed an intense depressive illness in the months leading up to the killing."

He said the illness "led her to the belief that there was no solution to their problems other than to take James's life and kill herself". Both her parents were dead and she had little support.

Her financial pressures intensified after James's father, Mohammed Al-Rafaey, described as a "successful" Syrian national who lived in Abu Dhabi, stopped sending them money.

Taylor called the emergency services on 2 December and told them she had stabbed herself and drowned her son in the bath two days earlier. Police and paramedics arrived to find James in a foetal position with his head submerged in the water. They discovered Taylor lying in a conservatory in bloodstained clothes.

She had multiple stab wounds to her thighs, breasts, wrists and arms and was white, cold and weak. All the wounds were self-inflicted, but bite marks on one of her fingers were believed to have come from her son and were the only sign of a possible struggle.

Taylor was said to have told paramedics she had wanted the two of them to die so they could "be in a better place". She said she recalled getting into the bath with her son but could not remember if she had held him underwater.

James's father sent her £1,000 a month in child maintenance and paid private school fees but the court heard that by the time of his death she had accrued huge debts and had only £360 in her current account. In May last year she begged Mr Al-Rafaey, with whom she had a brief relationship in the Nineties, for more money and he agreed to transfer $25,000 on condition she never asked for any more.

But soon afterwards she did ask for more cash, which he refused.

James, who was a pupil at Steephill, a £2,245-a-term primary school in Fawkham, Kent, was sent at secondary level to non fee-paying Wilmington Grammar School near Dartford. Taylor, who did not have a job, confided her money woes to her sister and close friends. They insisted she visit her GP and she was prescribed anti-depressants and sleeping pills. When computer experts looked at her internet activity in the months leading up to James's death they found searches referring to "suicide through debt", "taking a child through suicide" and "drowning as my heart keeps pounding".

The court heard she asked those close to her if they would look after James if she died but was never given assurances they would. The judge said he felt there was a risk of Taylor re-offending as she had "exhibited resentment to people she feels could have done more".

He also said that she had shown no "real acceptance of responsibility for the offence".