Mom gets 31 years for killing daughters

CAMBRIDGE, England, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- A woman who stabbed her two daughters in their sleep was sentenced Tuesday to at least 31 more years in a British prison for the double murder.

A judge in Cambridge Crown Court said Rekha Kumari-Baker, 41, wanted to ruin her ex-husband's life because he had a new relationship while she had broken up with a boyfriend, the Daily Mail reported. He sentenced her to life with a minimum of 33 years, including the two she spent behind bars awaiting trial.

Kumari-Baker admitted killing Davina, 16, and Jasmine, 13, but claimed diminished responsibility. Jurors deliberated for 35 minutes before finding her guilty of two counts of murder.

''Most people will find it inexplicable that a mother could kill her own children, and you have given no explanation for it," Justice David Bean told her. "You were certainly upset at the breakdown of your relationship with (ex-boyfriend) Jeff Powell. I think this mild depression was probably combined with a wish to retaliate against (ex-husband) David Baker and destroy the happiness in his life. You knew quite well what you were doing and you were not mentally ill. The crimes were, as the prosecution rightly put it, murder, full stop."