Horrible story
 

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.”

I really shouldn’t have read that…….
There are somethings I just don’t want to know about.

Holy shit. That's horrible.
I'm left speechless here.

Oh man. I am tired of depressing things today. Someone died, I had to see this 9/11 exhibit and now this. The paper should print happy stories. Just once I would like to see something like "Steve and his wife are fine and there are no problems"

I don't care what the hell is going on in your life, what kind of person is such a selfish twisted fuck that killing your kids sounds like a good way to get even with someone?

I can tell you right now that absolutely nothing my wife would ever do could make me hate her enough to take my son's life. I would jump in front of a moving train to get him out of the way.

People like this (we had a guy in the US drown two of his kids and drive two more head-on into a truck this week) are going to a special place in Hell.

That's really awful.

Things like this always make me wonder about the fine line between evil and insanity. You think "someone would have to be mentally ill to do something like this" but perhaps not - maybe they're just extremely self-centered people who are, for lack of a better word, evil.

Makes me a bit sad I DON'T believe in hell.

<-- open jawed

I dont even know what to say about that.


I hate people sometimes.

I just cannot imagine how he could hate his wife so much that he would call her up and make her listen to him murder their children.

This is probably the saddest thing I have ever read. He will get what he deserves. Death was too quick a punishment.

Holy crap, that sucks.

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

"Young, of Winsford, Cheshire, had picked them up for an access visit on March 27..."

There's the biggest problem that I have with all of this. He freakin' <i>TOLD</i> people what he was gonna do. Even if they thought that he just joking...doesn't that at least raise an eyebrow?

I'm getting physically sick to my stomach. How can <i>anyone</i> do something like that to their children. Shit, at least they didn't suffer, and just went to sleep. I cannot even <i>begin</i> to imagine the horror that the mother went through.

I hear ya, lurkete...I hear ya.

I'll believe in Hell enough for both of you.

This man lived it on Earth and has chosen it forever after.

This is gonna sound sick, but I wish they had been able to revive him just to turn around and stick him in the chair. His exit was way too pleasent and easy. I cannot even express what I would do to this kind of person. How can people like this even EXIST???

I seriously do not know what to say about this. Pretty fucked up...

Just another reason I think there needs to be a liscence for having kids. Reading through this article it seems these people are just runing around having babies left and right. Does anyone know about birth control? If you have the ability to be this selfish and twisted they need to be sterilized. Four innocents died because these people could't keep their collective dicks in their pants!:mad:

I still don't understand why the kids didn't just open the doors and leave, especially when they knew they were going to die. It didn't sound like they were restrained in any way. They were found in their pajama's and clutching pillows. Especially when he put one of them on the phone to talk to the mom! :confused:

I believe hell is a state of mind, and that man just created it for the mother of the three kids.

hawkeye: they exist in much the same way that you or i do.

Heh, he should have just killed himself with his wife on the phone, guilt tripping her, not involved the kids, but i guess he used that to make it even more painful for her.

The one thing i do wonder though ,is if she does have a grudge against that baby.

This is the first time i've felt this bad n a long time. I'm almost crying.:(

ah. We need more good news on this board.

Just insane... I don't know how that woman will go on with her life and what she will tell that baby of hers when it is born. And those innocent kids... if anybody got screwed in this story, it was them.

People who kill their kids....
Grrr.

Someone in an earlier post mentioned someone drowning his 2 kids. Don't know if that is the same, but last year a guy in my state of Michigan did just that, along with killing his girlfriend. He didn't take the easy way out, thankfully, and can now spend each moment of his life in regret in prison; he was sentenced to life just the other day.

I hope the mother of the posted story will love her newborn with all her heart, and not hold a grudge against her/him.

And I hope the guy's funeral is empty of people.

Jesus Christ.

It is shit like this that makes me ashamed of all mankind.

That's one of, if not the worst thing I've ever heard.

but they did suffer. i can't even begin to imagine the mental agony that they did endure & suffer before they drew their last breaths.

it's beyond a sad shame the children had to die, but i am glad that sicko father is dead, even if he took the cowards way out. good riddance.

So sad, so pointless. One more reason never to cheat on your SO. :(

Words fail me. So much evil in this world.

I want to go home and hold my wife and daughter very close.

Man it never fails to amaze me at how fucked up some people are.

Speechless... :(

What a sick fuck... sigh I dont even know what to say.

Most accurate thread title ever. How sad, how terribly sad.

thats unbelievable...

...gulp... shouldn't have read that. Anyone got any happy links?

...... sheeeeit, I wish he hadn't died.

Preach it, brother-man...

illustrates the sickness possible as a result of jealousy...

Y'know... I have to agree with you on this one.

Logically, I know people are capable of doing such things... but I can never understand why such a heinous act would ever come into existence.

Humans frighten me. Frankly, I don't care for them. This is what we're capable of.

I feel depressed now.

due to the comments in this thread and my current mood, i have decided not to read this before i go to sleep.

i will, however, read it when i wake up(quite a way to start off the day, no? to reinforce my pessimistic side)

Not THAT shocking. The husband is a terrible man, and it's a terrible thing that he did, but in the end, worse things have happened in our world.

Two very stupid parents.. Sad for the kids.

That's absolutely terrible...