Headline

Cannabis-smoking Mother Bags Life Jail For Drowning Two Sons

Published

5 months ago

April 13, 2025

A cannabis-smoking mother who drowned her two young sons, aged two and five, and tucked them into bed for their father to find has been sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday and will serve a minimum of 21 years, Daily Mail reports.

The 47-year-old mother, Kara Alexander, of Dagenham, East London in the United Kingdom, was found guilty of murdering Elijah Thomas, two, and Marley Thomas, five, in the bath at their home in December 2022.

At Kingston Crown Court on Friday, Justice Bennathan reportedly sentenced Alexander to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years and 252 days.

He also warned that Alexander’s reliance on super-strength cannabis, known as skunk, should serve as a warning that it can ‘plunge people into a mental health crisis in which they may harm themselves or others’.

The boys’ father Selvin Thomas was reported to have found found his sons lying dead on their bunk beds after they were killed by their mother. They had been tucked in but he immediately knew they were dead, describing them as cold and hard to the touch.

Thomas, who had split up with Alexander just three months earlier, reportedly began screaming, “Kara, Kara, Kara. You’ve killed my children.” But she had already fled the house and he called the police.

He was due to have the boys that weekend and was worried because he had not received any messages or calls from Alexander. When he arrived at their home his ex-partner said they were upstairs sleeping before slamming the door in his face.

But after he demanded entry, he reportedly ran to his sons’ bedroom to find they had been murdered, and their bodies lying side-by-side on their lower bunk bed. By the time the horrified father ran downstairs Alexander had fled.

She was arrested about an hour later and later claimed she had left the boys in the bath alone while she smoked cannabis.

“They had the duvet up to their shoulders, only their faces were visible. He touched Marley’s face, on his right cheek, and he was freezing cold and hard. He knew immediately that they were dead and thought they had been dead for some time,” prosecutor Philip Evans reportedly told the court.

The cause of death was drowning or suffocation.

On Friday at Kingston Crown Court, Evans read out the victim impact statement of Thomas, who could not be present due to illness saying.

“The events of December 2022, have obviously had a profound impact on me and my family,” he said in Selvin Thomas’ words.

“Kara ensured there would be maximum impact on me by engineering a situation where I would find Marley and Elijah deceased in bed. I am coming to terms with the fact I dedicated seven years of my life to a cold-hearted, selfish and extremely stupid demon.

“I believe Kara’s intention was to frame me for the murders and somehow present herself as a victim. She was able to brutally end the lives of two innocent children, put them in the bed and wait calmly for me.

“She has shown no remorse or provided any kind of explanation or apology, she did not consider the impact this would have. Despite the correct verdict being handed down, there still remain many unanswered questions. It is a pain that follows me all day, every day and will do for the rest of my life,” he read.

On her part, Alexander had reportedly claimed it was “an accident” when she left the boys in the bath as she smoked cannabis.

The report stated that after deliberating for six hours and 54 minutes, the jury at Kingston Crown Court found Alexander guilty of two counts of murder.

Jailing her on Friday morning, Justice Bennathan reportedly told Alexander, “The heavy use of skunk or other hyper strong strains of cannabis can plunge people into a mental health crisis in which they may harm themselves or others. If any drug user does not know that, it is about time they did.

“On the evening of December 15, 2022, you had been smoking skunk, you had been doing so for weeks before, probably longer. You drowned them both, I cannot reach any conclusion other than by your state at that time you intended to kill them.

“The bath was probably still run from the evening routine and I do not think your dreadful acts were pre-meditated. The next morning their father, worried by your unusual signs, came and found them – the stuff of nightmares.

“I find you were in a psychotic state when you killed your two sons. On the proper medical definition, I accept that it was cannabis induced, even if there were other contributing causes.

“That finding of psychosis is consistent with the jury’s rejection to your defence of diminished responsibility. You had a previous psychotic episode in 2016.

“I also note that in December 2022, you spoke regularly to two members of your social circle about your heavy cannabis use, they both knew you were looking after small children, yet neither of them warned you of any risks.”

The judge added that her “shocking abuse of trust that any small child ought to be able to have in their mother or father” was a significant aggravating factor.

“You not only lack any previous convictions but before that terrible evening you had been a caring mother, that stands as a stark contrast of what normally happens when a child is killed. You may not have been told that your previous psychotic state could be triggered by cannabis.

“Every day you will remember and grieve the little boys whose lives you snatched away,” he was quoted as saying.

Marley and Elijah, also known as Teddy, had previously lived with Alexander and Thomas in Hackney before they split up and she moved to Dagenham with the boys.

Headline

US Opposes Palestinian State Recognition, Says It’s Reward For Hamas

Published

9 hours ago

September 24, 2025

Editor

United States President Donald Trump and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, met on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, where they discussed differing views on the future of Gaza and Palestinian statehood.

CNN reports that Trump rejected the two-state solution to the crisis in Gaza, saying the idea portrays “reward” for Hamas.

France recently joined the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal to officially recognise the Palestinian state.

Trump opened the Tuesday bilateral meeting by praising Macron’s diplomatic efforts, claiming the French leader had helped him prevent global conflicts.

“Emmanuel has actually helped me with a couple of the wars,” Trump said, in response to Macron’s recent remark that if the US president wants a Nobel Peace Prize, he should “put an end to the war in Gaza.”

When asked about Palestinian statehood, and his latest remarks, it would be a “gift to Hamas,” Trump again pushed back strongly.

“Well, I think it honors Hamas, and you can’t do that because of October 7. You can’t do that. But we want our hostages back,” Trump said.

“You always have to remember, people forget October 7 was one of the most savage days in the history of the world,” the US president said.

In response, Macron, seated beside Trump, emphasised that recognising a Palestinian state does not mean ignoring Hamas’ October 2023 attacks on Israel.

The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and Israel, fought since October 7, 2023, when the Hamas militant group attacked Israel, which has since launched offensive in the Gaza Strip in retaliation.

Headline

Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Is Dead

Published

22 hours ago

September 23, 2025

Editor

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdulaziz, has died at the age of 82.

According to a statement from the Royal Court, the revered cleric passed away on Tuesday morning.

Born in Mecca in November 1943, Sheikh Abdulaziz rose to become one of the most influential religious authorities in the Kingdom.

He served as head of the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta, as well as the Supreme Council of the Muslim World League.

Headline

Antitrust Trial: US Asks Court To Break Up Google’s Ad Business

Published

2 days ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

Google faces a fresh federal court test on Monday as US government lawyers ask a judge to order the breakup of the search engine giant’s ad technology business.

The lawsuit is Google’s second such test this year, following a similar government demand to split up its empire that was shot down by a judge earlier this month.

Monday’s case focuses specifically on Google’s ad tech “stack” — the tools that website publishers use to sell ads and that advertisers use to buy them.

In a landmark decision earlier this year, Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema agreed with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that Google maintained an illegal grip on this market.

Monday’s trial is set to determine what penalties and changes Google must implement to undo its monopoly.

According to filings, the US government will argue that Google should spin off its ad publisher and exchange operations. The DOJ will also ask that after the divestitures are complete, Google be banned from operating an ad exchange for 10 years.

Google will argue that the divestiture demands go far beyond the court’s findings, are technically unfeasible, and would be harmful to the market and smaller businesses.

“We’ve said from the start that DOJ’s case misunderstands how digital advertising works and ignores how the landscape has dramatically evolved, with increasing competition and new entrants,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs.

In a similar case in Europe, the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust enforcer, earlier this month fined Google 2.95 billion euros ($3.47 billion) over its control of the ad tech market.

Brussels ordered behavioral changes, drawing criticism that it was going easy on Google as it had previously indicated that a divestiture may be necessary.

This remedy phase of the US trial follows a first trial that found Google operated an illegal monopoly. It is expected to last about a week, with the court set to meet again for closing arguments a few weeks later.

The trial begins in the same month that a separate judge rejected a government demand that Google divest its Chrome browser, in an opinion that was largely seen as a victory for the tech giant.

That was part of a different case, also brought by the US Department of Justice, in which the tech giant was found responsible for operating an illegal monopoly, this time in the online search space.

Instead of a major breakup of its business, Google was required to share data with rivals as part of its remedies.

The US government had pushed for Chrome’s divestment, arguing the browser serves as a crucial gateway to the internet that brings in a third of all Google web searches.

Shares in Google-parent Alphabet have skyrocketed by more than 20 percent since that decision.

Judge Brinkema has said in pre-trial hearings that she will closely examine the outcome of the search trial when assessing her path forward in her own case.

These cases are part of a broader bipartisan government campaign against the world’s largest technology companies. The US currently has five pending antitrust cases against such companies.

AFP