British prisoner put on suicide watch in Spanish jail

January 26, 2012  •  National News  •  0 Comments

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• Lianne Smith was arrested for smothering her two children

A BRITISH prisoner being held in a Spanish jail has been put on suicide watch after her paedophile partner was found hanged in his cell.

Lianne Smith, 44, who is awaiting trail for murdering her two children in Spain, was placed under 24-hour surveillance in a secure psychiatric unit after British Embassy staff broke the news to her.

Her partner, TV psychic Martin Smith, 46, who was serving 16 years for rape, attempted rape and indecent assault, was discovered by prison officers in Manchester shortly after eating his evening meal and was pronounced dead half an hour later.

He had been initially arrested in 2007 and questioned by police over allegations he had sexually abused his step-daughter for more than a decade.

But Smith and former children’s services manager Lianne fled to Spain.

After a three year man hunt he was arrested and extradited back to the UK to face child sex abuse charges.

But days later, Smith – the mother of his sex abuse victim – suffocated their children Rebecca, five, and Daniel, 11 months, with a plastic bag fearing the youngsters would be seized by social services.

She has since admitted smothering the children but denies murder, claiming she was not criminally responsible for their deaths, due to mental illness.

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