28 years for jealous father who strangled children

A jealous father who strangled his two young children with computer cables to get back at his wife was jailed for a minimum of 28 years today.

Petros Williams, 37, of Manchester, deliberately chose internet connection cords to punish her when she used dating websites following their marriage breakdown.

He also cruelly filmed a "farewell video" of his four-year-old daughter Yolanda and two-year-old son Theo in which he told them to face the camera and say "we will miss you mummy".

A jury at Manchester Crown Court found Williams guilty of both murders after just 90 minutes of deliberation.

The Zimbabwean had denied the charges in his five-day trial as he suggested his wife, Morongoe Molemohi, 30, carried out the killings last October.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Kenneth Parker told him: "There is no doubt that you intended to kill them. It is hard to conceive any more shocking crime than a parent deliberately taking the life of his or her child.

"We saw from the video that Yolanda and Theo were happy children, full of love and laughter, with a whole lifetime ahead of them and, above all, absolute trust in their father who, for entirely selfish purposes, would end their brief lives.

"You remain in denial. You have simply refused to come to terms with the enormity of your deeds.

"You have shown not an ounce of remorse in this court. Your pity has been exclusively reserved for yourself."

Williams, of Whalley Range, stared blankly as the verdicts were returned.

Miss Molemohi gave her evidence via videolink and was not in court today. Her victim impact statement was passed to the judge before sentencing and she requested it not be read out.

Mr Justice Parker said: "You wanted to hit back in a way she would never forget.

"You chose to strangle them with the internet cables as a constant reminder to her as to their deaths."

The judge said it was his view that the children were "mere appendages to the union with his wife".

"I believe that is how you came to make the cruel video," he said.

"You coaxed your trusting and innocent children to act out their last farewell to their mother.

"They had no concept of what you were asking them to do.

"They were simply instruments for your jealousy and acts of revenge.

"You took these lives to destroy a third life."