A British woman killed her two children in a hotel room in Spain while they slept and spent the night with their bodies, a court has heard.
Lianne Smith, 43, has admitted smothering Rebecca, five, and 11-month-old Daniel, in Lloret de Mar, Costa Brava, in May 2010.
The Provincial Court in Girona will determine whether she is criminally responsible for two counts of murder.
Her lawyer said she was in a state of “psychiatric disturbance” at the time.
The deaths took place after her partner, Martin Smith, was extradited to the UK on charges of sexually abusing a young girl.
Smith, a 46-year-old former TV psychic, originally from North Shields, North Tyneside, was later convicted of rape and jailed for 16 years.
In January he was found hanged in his cell in HMP Manchester.
The couple, who share the same name but are not related, left Lichfield in Staffordshire for Spain in 2007 with Rebecca. Daniel was born in Spain.
Previously they had been living in Cumbria, where the offences occurred.
Victor Pillado Quintas, prosecuting, said in his opening statement that on the night of 17 May, while they were asleep, Ms Smith had “taken advantage of the trust the children would have had in their mother”.
“She took her son in her arms and put a bag over his head, closing it around his neck,” he said.
“She did not stop tightening the bag until she had killed him.
“Immediately she did the same to the five-year-old, closing the same bag around her neck and tightening it until she killed her daughter.
“After ending the lives of her children she spent the night with their lifeless bodies.”
‘Insurmountable fear’
The following day, he said, she went to the reception and asked for police and an ambulance, and confessed to police and the judicial authorities that she had ended the children’s lives.
Mr Pillado Quintas told members of the jury they would have to decide whether she knew that it was wrong or whether she was suffering from a mental condition at the time.
“The prosecution says she was not suffering a mental disease,” he said.
“You will also have to decide whether she was suffering insurmountable fear when she killed her children.
“To decide on this you will hear evidence from psychiatric experts and the defendant herself, but you will also have to use your common sense.
“Would a person who is afraid of someone hurting her children kill those children? Is this logical?”
Defending, Jenifer Lahoz Abos, said Ms Smith had a “total emotional dependence” on her partner and was left in a state of psychosis after he was arrested in Barcelona on 7 May 2010.
“In Barcelona, Lianne not only took care of her children but was also the only member of the family who worked,” she said.
“She worked as an English teacher and was the family’s only breadwinner.”
The trial is expected to last four days.
