Mother visits sons' death scene

Samantha Tolley saw the shrine to her sons at the Horseshoe Pass

A mother whose four sons were killed by her estranged husband has visited the north Wales beauty spot where the boys died.

Samantha Tolley travelled to the Horseshoe Pass near Llangollen on Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the deaths of her children.

Joshua Young, aged seven, and his brothers Thomas, six, Callum, five, and Daniel, three, died in a fume-filled car at the pass.

An inquest in Wrexham this month recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on the youngsters and one of suicide on their father, Keith Young, 38.

Mr Young - who was separated from Ms Tolley - drove them to the area during an access visit last March.

The pain and memory never go away - nothing has the same importance any more Samantha Tolley

He started a petrol lawnmower in the car and, as the boys were overcome with fumes, he rang their mother to taunt her about what he was doing. He, too, died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Ms Tolley, from Winsford in Cheshire, said visiting the scene was very difficult for her, but she said that it had in some way made her feel closer to the boys.

She said: "Since my boys have been taken from me I've lost all joy and happiness and sometimes feel that I have no reason to carry on.

"The pain and memory never go away. Nothing has the same importance any more."

She said that on some mornings she did not want to get up at all, and added that she would go over and over in her mind what her ex-husband had done, and what her sons had gone through.

The boys and their father were killed by carbon monoxide fumes

North East Wales Coroner John Hughes said the case was one of the most harrowing he had ever dealt with.

The inquest had heard that Mr Young and Ms Tolley had separated several months before the tragedy, following a long and stormy relationship.

The night before the tragedy, Mr Young had learned that Ms Tolley was pregnant with another man's baby. She later lost the child.

A garden of remembrance was opened this month at the primary school where the boys were pupils.