A MOTHER WHO MURDERED HER CHILDREN! The story of Louise Porton

“For today’s case we’re in Rugby in Warwickshire, England. Home to the sport of the same name. The history of rugby goes back hundreds of years. It’s home to nearly 80,000 people. And in 2018, one of the people that called it home was Louise Porton, a 23-year-old mother of two.

When Louise turned 18, she gave birth to her first child with Chris Draper, a little girl called Lexi. Lexi would soon become a big sister when Louise and Chris had a second child, another little girl, this one named Scarlet. Chris and Louise’s relationship would soon sour and Louise started a new one. She also moved to Rugby from Willenhall and cut off Chris’s access to his children. He never even met Scarlet, and Louise told her new partner that he was Scarlet’s father, which was not true. This relationship would also fall apart.

Being a young single mother can be tough and challenging at the best of times, and as a result, Louise had a lot of help from her sister and other family members in looking after her children. She lived with Lexi and Scarlet in a flat at Beechwood Court, and she worked part-time as a model. She was on various social networking sites, and on one of them, she described herself as easy to get along with and open to all types of photoshoots, as well as being open to working for pay or trade. Using the name Lollipop, she did photoshoots for a variety of things, including erotic and glamour modeling.

As 2017 came to an end and the new year rolled around, on the 2nd of January 2018, her oldest daughter Lexi was admitted to hospital. She was struggling to breathe. After examining her, it was concluded that this was likely the result of a chest infection, and she was discharged. Just two days later, on the 4th of January, paramedics were dispatched to Park Road as Lexi’s condition had rapidly deteriorated. Paramedic David Woods-Thomas said he had no idea why the child was as ill as she was. She was lying flat on her back, and her life was saved by the skill and knowledge of the paramedics who performed resuscitation. After conducting tests, the paramedics believed her condition could be the result of a severe respiratory illness, and they described her condition as critical. Louise said her daughter had been suffering from seizures. One thing did stand out to David. While Louise appeared to be somewhat upset, she was not as distressed as one might expect when having a young child so seriously unwell. It was again believed to be a chest infection, and she was given more antibiotics. When she was fit enough, Lexi was discharged from hospital.

The 15th of January 2018.

“Ambulance service. Is the patient breathing?”

“No, they’re not breathing.”

“No? Okay. And who was it we’re talking about?”

“Um… Lexi. She’s three.”

“She’s three. Bear with me, yeah. Okay, so she’s unconscious and she’s not breathing. So help has been arranged, okay?”

The call had been made by Louise Porton. By the time the paramedics arrived at the flat, just 9 minutes after the call was placed, the property was noticeably cold. Mark Mitchell was one of the paramedics on shift, and upon entering the flat, he called out that they were now on scene.

“In here from the bedroom,” Louise said, and the paramedics headed through.

Lexi was on the floor by the bed. Louise said she had put Lexi in the bath earlier and then found her unresponsive in bed. Mark tried to open her airway, but her jaw was stiff, as were other parts of her body. Rigor mortis had started to set in. Her skin was pale and mottled, and her lips were blue. He knew that it would be fruitless to make any attempts to revive or resuscitate her. At 12:50 a.m., her time of death was called. Mark had been the one to call her time of death, and he told Louise that Lexi had died and that he believed she had actually been dead for some time already.

Louise burst into tears. Mark said she cried for less than a minute before walking out of the bedroom. Lexi was wrapped in blankets, and Mark carried her out to the ambulance. She was driven to University Hospital Coventry while Louise, another paramedic, and a police officer sat in the back. Following this, the sudden unexpected death in infancy and childhood procedures were triggered, and her death was investigated to find a cause. A postmortem was carried out, and specialist doctors were called in to try and determine why she had died. No natural cause of death could be determined, and the results of the postmortem were pending. CCTV had shown her going into the flat with Louise and Scarlet just hours before her death. In the footage, she appeared to be happy and chatty.

Losing a child is a pain that many of us cannot even bear to think about. But Louise’s behavior was raising questions. Just one day after Lexi had died, Louise had been on the dating app MeetMe and accepted 41 friend requests. She had also been on another app, Badoo, and was messaging various men on there.

“My little girl passed away yesterday,” she told one man.

And when he offered his condolences, she simply replied, “It’s all right.”

She had also arranged a date with another man that night. She was cold and flippant about Lexi’s death, saying:

“I had to now down to one.”

When she arrived at the funeral home to talk about the plans for Lexi’s service, she did not appear to be a young mother who had suffered such a tragedy so recently. She was heard laughing and joking and was even FaceTiming a man. As investigations into why Lexi had died were carried out, Louise and Scarlet were moved to a nearby hotel. Just 2 days after going to the funeral home for Lexi and less than 3 weeks after she had died, another call was made to the emergency services.

The 1st of February 2018. Louise had been driving around Rugby, with her car being seen on Barby Road, Dunchurch Road, and Russelsheim Way. She then stopped in a petrol station to fill up her car. She then pulled into Elliot’s retail park and made a call to 111, the UK’s alternative medical line that is not for life-threatening emergencies. She said she was in the car and Scarlet was in her car seat not breathing. The operator asked if she could wake her and Louise said she couldn’t. She said she had made the decision to call 111 as her daughter’s condition did not seem urgent, despite the fact she wasn’t breathing.

When Scarlet was tended to by the paramedics, they were met with every emergency responder’s worst nightmare. Baby Scarlet was already dead. It was clear she had been dead for some time. One of the paramedics said that Scarlet was freezing and completely lifeless. The paramedics asked what had happened, and Louise said she had been diagnosed with the flu and that her older sister Lexi had died two weeks before.

Both of Louise’s daughters were now dead. And following Scarlet’s passing, Louise was described as being emotionless and calm. Considering she had lost both her children within less than 3 weeks of each other, she did not seem distressed or upset. Her behavior was still detached and cold. When asked about what she wanted to do with her daughter’s belongings, her response was to yawn. With both children now having died, it was clear that this was not a tragic coincidence, as doctors could find no natural reason for either of the children to have died.

Chris Draper, Lexi and Scarlet’s father, said in an impact statement read on his behalf:

“You were their mother, the person supposed to care for them, protect them, and love them. They were just an inconvenience to you. How could you do this? Maybe if social services had listened to me they would still be alive today. I sit and think day and night and I can’t understand why my two little girls were taken away because Louise wanted to sleep around. I hate Louise. No punishment will ever be enough. Only having a short time with Lexi and never meeting Scarlet makes it all the more heartbreaking. We will miss out on all those special occasions they would have celebrated. Their first day of school, birthdays, getting married, having children of their own. The only comfort is that Lexi and Scarlet are together.”

Louise sat with her head resting on her hands, looking down at her feet. She didn’t react at all.

Detective Superintendent Pete Hill from Warwickshire Police said he would never be able to understand why Louise murdered her children:

“She has lied repeatedly to friends, family, and professionals to cover her tracks. At no point throughout the whole investigation has she ever shown any real signs of emotion. Not content with killing one of her children, she did exactly the same to her other daughter. I would like to thank the jury. They diligently went through the appalling details of Porton’s crimes. They saw through her lies before returning a guilty verdict.”

Louise Porton is serving her sentence at HMP Foston Hall and will be eligible for parole in January 2055. It has been reported that Louise has been spat at and verbally abused whilst in prison.

In September 2019, the funeral was held in Walsall and their coffins were taken by a horse-drawn carriage. Their father Chris paid tribute to them online, saying that they were deeply loved and would never be forgotten. He finished his post saying:

“Sleep tight, babies. Daddy’s got you. Daddy will always have your back. Sleep tight. Love, your daddy.”

Following Louise’s conviction, her mother Sharon spoke about her daughter:

“Something snapped in her head. She became a monster. My wonderful little girl changed. She’s not the happy, loving girl I brought up. I no longer consider her my daughter.”

Bà nói thêm:

“I cannot believe social services didn’t do more. They have blood on their hands. They could have done so much more. Louise didn’t care about Lexi’s death. She didn’t give a damn. There should be an inquiry into why they didn’t do more. Who has made the decision that everything is okay with Louise’s family and that they can be left alone? Scarlet needed to be taken away for her own safety.”

According to Sharon, multiple people had called social services in the weeks before Lexi’s death, but no action had been taken.

In February 2020, it was reported that 48-year-old Sharon had died from suicide. A spokesperson for West Midlands Police said that the police were called after a woman’s body was discovered at an address in Willenhall. The death is not being treated as suspicious.

The bond between sisters is special and often unbreakable. Lexi and Scarlet should be growing up together and experiencing life with one another. They had so much to offer and loads more to do and see. The one person that should have protected them took all of those opportunities away. To know that they experienced such suffering at the hands of their own mother is frankly too horrible to think about. One can only hope that as time continues to pass, it will give those who loved Lexi and Scarlet the opportunity to begin to heal.”