Mother taunted as sons killed

All four brothers died of carbon monoxide poisoning

An inquest has heard how a mother called her estranged husband to be told that he was in the process of gassing their four sons in his car.

Keith Young, a 38-year-old farm labourer from Chester, had driven his four boys to the Horseshoe Pass in Llangollen, north Wales, during an access visit.

The court heard that Young was unhappily separated from his wife Samantha Tolley, and he had since learned that she was pregnant with another man's baby.

Reading from a statement by Ms Tolley, North East Wales Coroner John Hughes said: "You called him and he answered the phone. Without even saying hello he said 'save your breath'.

"You asked where he was and he said you don't need to know.

Samantha Tolley pleaded with Young to come home

In fact, Young had pulled over and began running a lawnmower which he had placed in the back of the car with the intention of gassing his sons to death.

"You asked where the boys were and he said they were in the jeep with him, " the coroner went on.

"You said you would get the police and he said it didn't matter because they would never find him and by the time they did it would be too late."

Then the court heard, he called his estranged wife back with a chilling message.

"I hope you are happy," he said.

After pleading with her husband to bring the boys home, she then frantically called the police and within hours the bodies were found in the fume-filled car at the Horseshoe Pass, near Llangollen in Denbighshire, in March this year.

Joshua Young, seven, Thomas Young, six, Callum Young, five, Daniel Young, three, were found alongside their father.

The court had heard how Young was deeply unhappy at the break-up of his marriage which had been described as "stormy".

Young had driven his boys to the Horseshoe Pass, near Llangollen

He had asked her repeatedly to come back to him and had once threatened to kill himself.

The couple had met. the court heard, when she was 14 and he 24.

They married in 2001 but the relationship deteriorated with allegations that Mr Young had assaulted his wife and in January this year she moved out of the family home in Weaverham, Cheshire, taking the boys with her.

She embarked on a new relationship but knowing how much his sons meant to him, she allowed her estranged husband virtually unrestricted access.

Mrs Tolley regarded him as a good father and did not think he would harm them in any way.

But all that was to change on 27 March when Young called a relative and said that his wife could never see her children again. Soon after Mrs Tolley spoke to him on the phone for the last time.

Experienced officers who attended the scene said one of the most shocking scenes they had come across and were said to have been deeply traumatised by the incident.

Deputy Chief Constable Bill Brereton, said at the time the incident was "horrendous beyond my imagination".

A post mortem examination revealed they all died of carbon monoxide poisoning and that the boys would not have suffered and would have becomed drowsy.

The inquest at Wrexham Magistrates Court continues.