She Allegedly Made a Chilling Google Search — Then Fatally Stabbed Her Kids, Asked for Death Penalty By Christina Coulter

A British mother fatally stabbed her two children and then drove to a car wash to stab her husband, all because she didn’t want him to have custody, a court has heard.

Veronique John, 50, is accused of killing her son Ethan John, 11, by stabbing him more than 20 times, and inflicting fatal brain injuries on her 7-year-old daughter, Elizabeth John.

The children died in June 2023 in what prosecutors described as an eruption of violence motivated by fear of losing them to their father, Nathan John, according to the BBC, who survived the attack.

At the trial-of-facts hearing at Nottingham Crown Court, the jury was told that Veronique John carried out the stabbings at her home, then left wearing her dressing gown and drove to a local car wash where she stabbed her husband in the stomach before returning home and dialing 999.

She has been charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and an alternative count of wounding. However, she has been ruled unfit to plead and is instead undergoing a trial of facts, the BBC reports.

The court heard that John had been increasingly distressed in the days leading up to the killings. Prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith told jurors that “what happened on the 11th of June didn’t come out of the blue,” and that “tension grew” in the days before.

John, who was born on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent, reportedly made a chilling internet search just hours before the killings, asking: “Can a foreigner be charged with murder in the UK?”

“That day, she just erupted, killed her children and attacked Nathan,” Grieves-Smith said, per BBC.

John allegedly told police officers after her arrest, “It’s something I was thinking about for a long time – just kill myself and the kids. Unless you guys are offering me the death penalty I have nothing else to say.”

According to the BBC, she also allegedly told officers, “I did it because I love my children – to protect the children,” and added, “if there’s any possible way I could be put to death, I would like that.”

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Police said that when they arrived at her home, John told them: “If you have a gun, shoot me. I am not a monster – he was going to take them from me.”

She is currently being held at a secure hospital and was not present in the courtroom to hear the prosecution’s opening speech, the BBC reports.

Before the proceedings began, trial judge Mr. Justice Choudhury told jurors that their task would be to determine whether John committed the acts she is charged with. He acknowledged the emotional weight of the case and urged jurors to strive for objectivity.

Prosecutors revealed that the couple had long experienced difficulties in their relationship. One reported source of tension, according to the BBC, was John’s opposition to her husband having an internet-enabled phone.

The trial is expected to last six days.