Strange Famous

A HORRIFIED mum listened on the phone as her husband gassed himself and their four young sons to death — and put one of them on the line to say goodbye.

Farm labourer Keith Young, 38, drove Joshua, seven, Thomas, six, Callum, five, and three-year-old Daniel to a beauty spot and ran a petrol mower in the back of his Mitsubishi Shogun 4x4.

As the exhaust fumes engulfed them, he rang estranged wife Samantha — who had recently told him she was pregnant by another man — and told her in turn as each child died. Then he passed out himself.

Samantha’s account of the harrowing 45-minute call was read to a Wrexham inquest by North East Wales coroner John Hughes yesterday.

He said: “Keith called you and you, in your desperation, told him you would get rid of the baby if he came home and you would make it work.

“He said, ‘It’s too late, you would have me arrested’. You said, ‘It’s not too late’. He said, ‘It is too late — Dan’s dead’.

“You asked to speak to the others and Keith put Josh on the phone. Just before he handed over the phone he said, ‘Say goodbye to your mum, tell her you love her’. And that is exactly what Josh, bless him, did.”

The only sound as Mr Hughes spoke was that of distraught Samantha sobbing — and occasionally answering “Yes” in a trembling voice when asked if the transcript of the nightmarish 1.15am call was correct.

The coroner went on: “The boys were obviously petrified but there was nothing you could do.

“You asked, ‘Where are you?’ and Keith told you another of the boys had passed away and the exhaust fumes were such that they couldn’t see out of the car.

“Then he said another of the boys had died and he was feeling sleepy. Then you heard Keith snoring or breathing heavily.”

Samantha, 28, — who has now taken the surname Tolley — heard nothing more for 20 minutes as she screamed down the phone in a desperate bid to wake her husband or the boys, the inquest was told.

The next voices she heard were those of police officers who found the vehicle at 2am by tracing her husband’s mobile phone signal. But everyone inside was already dead.

The stricken boys, all blond, were in pyjamas and clutching pillows and quilts.

Young, of Winsford, Cheshire, had picked them up for an access visit on March 27 before driving to Horseshoe Pass near Llangollen in Snowdonia, the inquest heard. Frantic Samantha called him after hearing he had threatened to kill himself and the boys. But by now Young’s mind was made up.

Mr Hughes, reading her evidence, said: “He answered the phone and, without even saying hello, said, ‘Save your breath’. You asked where he was and he said you didn’t need to know. You asked where the boys were and he said they were in the jeep with him.

“You said you’d get the police and he said it didn’t matter because they’d never find him and by the time they did it would be too late.”

Young called back and told his wife: “I hope you’re happy. I hope you have a grudge against that baby for the rest of your life.”

He then asked Samantha whether she could hear the mower and she replied: “Yes.” He asked if she could hear her children — and again she replied: “Yes.”

Soon afterwards, Young began describing the youngsters’ deaths.

The inquest heard Samantha and her husband had a stormy rela- tionship. They met when she was 14 and he was 24 — but kept their romance secret for six years as he had moved in with another woman, with whom he had a baby girl.

The couple eventually moved in together when Samantha fell pregnant. Young assaulted her on several occasions.

They wed in June 2001 but the relationship deteriorated further. And by last January Samantha had moved the boys to a council house in nearby Weaverham, Cheshire.

She started another relationship and fell pregnant.

In the weeks before the killings, Young made repeated threats to family and pals that he intended to kill himself and the boys.

Just two days before, he told his wife he loved her more than his children and if he could not have her, he did not want the children.

Previously he warned against divorce proceedings, telling her that if he received a solicitor’s letter things “would go with a bang and you would be left standing with your finger on your lip wondering what happened”.

Police smashed a window to get into the fume-filled Mitsubishi, the inquest heard, but their efforts to revive the children proved in vain.

A Home Office pathologist found Young and the boys died of carbon monoxide poisoning. He said the deaths would have been painless as the boys fell asleep. The coroner recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on the boys and said Young took his own life.

He said: “This case has been like a dark cloud which has been waiting there ever since the day I heard about the terrible events.

“I knew I’d have to deal with it in due time. It is one of the most harrowing cases I have dealt with.”

The coroner said he believed news of Samantha’s pregnancy was the trigger for what happened.

He told her: “I don’t think anyone could fail to be desperately moved by what we’ve heard. Everyone is desperately sorry.”

Samantha’s solicitor Sarah Lapsley said later: “While the boys’ suffering has ended, their mother’s torment continues on a daily basis and will do so the rest of her life.

“Too often, children bear the brunt of a relationship breakdown. Joshua, Thomas, Callum and Daniel paid the ultimate price.”