Summary Tania Clarence, 42, sobbed quietly as she appeared via video link from prison.
LONDON (AFP) - A South African woman accused of murdering her three young disabled children in London will be moved to a secure hospital for immediate treatment for mental health problems, a court heard.
Tania Clarence, 42, sobbed quietly as she appeared via video link from prison, where she is being held on suspicion of killing her three-year-old twin sons, Ben and Max, and four-year-old daughter Olivia.
The children were most likely suffocated, prosecutors told the hearing at a court in London, although further tests are being carried out.
All three suffered from type 2 spinal muscular atrophy, a genetic condition which leaves children with little control of their movements and can drastically shorten their life expectancy.
Clarence was detained after the three bodies were found at the family s home in New Malden, southwest London, on April 22.
She will now be moved to a secure hospital under Britain s Mental Health Act after Judge Brian Barker said he had heard evidence suggesting an "overriding need for immediate treatment".
Clarence s investment banker husband, Gary Clarence, 43, watched the hearing from the public gallery.
At the time of the children s deaths he was away in South Africa, the couple s home country, with their eldest daughter Taya.
Prosecuting lawyer Zoe Johnson said post-mortem examinations on the bodies indicated that "the provisional cause of death is probably suffocation".
She added: "Whether that was associated with some form of intoxication is yet to be determined."
