26 - Fiona Donnison & Mothers who Murder

Mens Rea: A true crime podcast

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True Crime, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2018

⏱️ 37 minutes

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Summary

On the morning of Wednesday, 27th January 2010, 45 year old mother of four Fiona Donnison walked into a police station in Heathfield, East Sussex. She was distressed, had what appeared to be self inflicted wounds and was making little sense. But then, she shocked police by telling them that she had killed her two small children, Harry (3) and Elise (2). They were found soon after in the boot of her car, parked around the corner from the home that she had once shared with her children and her ex-partner, Paul. In this episode, we tell the story of Fiona Donnison, and explore the reasons why some mothers turn murderous. What was Fiona's excuse? Find us on Facebook or Twitter! With thanks to our supporters on Patreon! If you would like to support the podcast, head on over to Patreon.com. Theme Music: Quinn’s Song: The Dance Begins by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Sources: "Fiona Donnison trial: Murder accused mum 'calm' before her children were killed” in The Mirror https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/fiona-donnison-trial-murder-accused-142411 (19 July 2011) Tom Wells, “My lovely kids... by mum who murdered two of them days later” in The Sunhttps://www.thesun.co.uk/archives/news/709914/my-lovely-kids-by-mum-who-murdered-two-of-them-days-later/ (10 August 2011) “Accused mother 'blew hot and cold' in The Oxford Mailhttp://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/national/9137505.print/ (13 July 2011) Fred Attewell “Fiona Donnison jailed for 32 years for killing her children to punish ex” in The Metro UKhttps://metro.co.uk/2011/08/09/fiona-donnison-jailed-for-32-years-for-killing-her-children-to-punish-ex-109455/ (9 August 2011) Cathy Gordon, “Killer mother appeals sentence for murdering Harry (3) and Elise (2)” in The Irish Independenthttps://www.independent.ie/life/family/mothers-babies/killer-mother-appeals-sentence-for-murdering-harry-3-and-elise-2-26856033.html (22 May 2012) “Children in boot asphyxiated” in The Belfast Telegraphhttps://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/children-in-boot-asphyxiated-28514454.html (29 January 2010) “Children in boot asphyxiated” in The Belfast Telegraphhttps://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/children-in-boot-asphyxiated-28514454.html (29 January 2010) Daily Star Reporter, “Child killing trial postponed” in The Daily Starhttps://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/179214/Child-killing-trial-postponed (2 March 2011) “Former City worker faces questions over murdered children” in The Evening Standardhttps://www.standard.co.uk/news/former-city-worker-faces-questions-over-murdered-children-6703340.html (28 January 2010) “Donnison: children were used as 'ultimate pawns' for revenge” in The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/donnison-children-were-used-as-ultimate-pawns-for-revenge-sqjmjq095t2?t=ie (12 July 2011) Monica Bennett, “Parents who kill their children” in Criminal.Media https://criminal.media/parents-who-kill-their-children(undated) Emily Andrews, “Woman who smothered two toddlers in jealous rage may have killed her baby girl years earlier” (publisher un-credited) from http://murderpedia.org/female.D/d/donnison-fiona.htm ( 10 August 2011) Emily Andrews “Wife watched me put children to bed 'with look of absolute hatred and evil on her face', father tells murder trial” in The Daily Mail from http://murderpedia.org/female.D/d/donnison-fiona.htm (14 July 2011) Emily Andrews, “If he's sleeping with you he will never see the kids: 'Killer mother's threat to partner's lover” in The Daily Mail from http://murderpedia.org/female.D/d/donnison-fiona.htm (13 July 2011) Rebecca Camber and James Mills, “'We love you, Fiona' : Relatives of smothered toddlers' mother call out in court as she is charged with their murder” in Daily Mail from http://murderpedia.org/female.D/d/donnison-fiona.htm (29 January 2010) Anthony France, Tomm Wells, et al “Killer mum ' gave kids her sedative'” in The Sun from http://murderpedia.org/female.D/d/donnison-fiona.htm (29 January 2010) Adam John, “The Evil mother formerly from sussexwho suffocated her children to death and handed herself into police” in Kent Live Newshttps://www.kentlive.news/news/sussex-news/evil-mother-formerly-sussex-who-686343 (29 October 2017) “Fiona Donnison children murders 'not predictable'” in BBC News.comhttps://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-24922651 and https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-sussex-24934128/fiona-donnison-child-murders-not-predictable(13 November 2013) “Fiona Donnison's online tribute to cot death baby Mia” in The Telegraphhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7097409/Fiona-Donnisons-online-tribute-to-cot-death-baby-Mia.html (29 January 2010) “Father warned his wife was a 'danger' to their two children before they were found dead” in The Telegraphhttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7097256/Father-warned-his-wife-was-a-danger-to-their-two-children-before-they-were-found-dead.html (29 January 2010) “Murder accuses mother Fiona Donnison 'not malingering'” in BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14294748 (26 July 2011) “Child-murders mother Fiona Donnison jailed for life” in BBC Newshttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14459954 (9 August 2011) Alexander Baron, “Op-Ed: Evil mother Fiona Donnison jailed for 32 years for killing kids” in Digital Journalhttp://www.digitaljournal.com/article/310163 (10 August 2011) Jim Goad, “19 Moms who killed their kids” in Thought Cataloguehttps://thoughtcatalog.com/jim-goad/2014/04/19-moms-who-killed-their-kids/ (15 April 2014) “Postpartum Psychosis: Severe mental illness after childbirth” from The Royal College of Psychiatrist at https://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/problemsanddisorders/postpartumpsychosis.aspx Postpartum Psychosis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postpartum_psychosis Insanity Defence in UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insanity_in_English_law Narcissistic Personality Disorder: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder Andrea Yates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Yates Diane Downs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Downs

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the mens rea podcast and this is the story of Fiona Donison. Oh, Born in 1965, in 1965, Fionna Donison was a confident, strong, and well-educated woman.
0:46.4	She was grief-stricken when her father passed away when she was young.
0:50.1	Her dad had been a police officer in Scotland.
0:53.2	Her mother still lived there, in Fora's Moorishur.
0:57.5	It's reported that Fionna never got over his passing.
1:01.6	When she finished school, she moved to Spain, where she worked as a nanny for five years.
1:06.0	Eventually she returned to the UK and began a career in the banking sector.
1:11.0	She had a high-powered job as a credit manager in the city.
1:15.8	She was a good worker and was successful, leading a very well-off lifestyle.
1:21.3	She married Derek McCRoe around 1993 and together they had two sons, born in 1995 and then 1998.
1:30.0	However, their marriage wavered and eventually in 2003, Fiona divorced him.
1:36.0	Fiona Donison met her second partner, Paul, while she was working for a syndicate of Lloyd's bank.
1:42.0	He also had a high-powered job in the banking sector.
1:47.0	She and Paul had a little girl Mia in 2004 who passed away from Kott Death.
1:53.0	Though the police did investigate the death, nothing came of it.
1:57.0	She was overjoyed when she went on to have two more children,
2:00.0	a boy and then another girl,
2:02.0	but she never seemed to recover from the loss of little baby Mia.
2:06.7	Fianna lost her job in 2009 and became depressed.
2:11.2	After the loss of her job, her marriage began to become strained, and she thought that Paul was cheating on her with an old school friend of his.
2:19.0	She also had mounting credit card debt, as she lived well beyond her means. On top of all that there was some
2:26.4	question of whether the other two older boys got on with Paul or not. In November of 2009,
	...

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