Mother's tears as court hears how ex-husband murdered her 'babies'

A MOTHER wept in court yesterday as she heard how her former husband had stabbed their two young sons to death, before trying to set their bodies alight.

Ashok Kalyanjee, 46, picked up Paul Ross, six, and his brother Jay, two, before driving them to a secluded spot and cutting their throats.

He then poured petrol over the boys and himself and tried to set the silver Mercedes on fire, but the car did not explode and he survived.

Kalyanjee, who left a chilling suicide tape, had lured the reluctant boys into spending the day with him with the promise of money to buy toys and a game of football. But all along he had planned to kill them.

He pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow yesterday to two charges of murder, and the boys' mother, Giselle Ross, broke down and sobbed as her sons' last moments were relived.

Alex Prentice, QC, prosecuting, said: "To say that Giselle Ross and family are devastated is inadequate. I suspect no-one can properly describe the sense of loss Giselle Ross and her family have suffered."

Ms Ross's last words to her sons were: "Bye babies."

Mr Prentice told how Kalyanjee, from Glasgow, called Ms Ross at her home in the Royston area on the morning of Saturday, 3 May, to ask if he could see the boys. Although divorced, he regularly saw his sons.

Paul was not keen to see his father – but Kalyanjee offered him 10 to persuade him. The court heard Paul told his mother: "Mum, I could buy a Spiderman toy with 10."

Later, Ms Ross received a phone call from her ex-husband, in which she said he sounded "cold and strange". After claiming the boys were fine, he told her: "You'll regret everything you've done to me in life." He then hung up.

Ms Giselle feared he was about to flee the country with her sons. Repeated attempts to call him failed and she frantically began to search parks before reporting the boys missing.

Passers-by alerted police after spotting Kalyanjee slumped in the car, parked in a lay-by in the Campsie Fells, near Lennoxtown, East Dunbartonshire.

Two officers went to the scene and were overcome by the stench of petrol as they opened the door to the car.

Kalyanjee was unconscious and had blistering on his skin. The officers immediately noticed a large, black-handled knife covered in blood lying on the floor.

Paramedics pronounced the two boys dead at the scene. Their father was taken to hospital.

Police discovered a dictating machine next to the vehicle, on which Kalyanjee said: "These children are mine and they go with me.

"This death is near. I've become a gambler and a drunk, nothing has become of me. Nobody can separate us, nobody can separate us now."

At a hearing last week, he admitted killing the boys, and yesterday he formally pleaded guilty to murder.

The judge, Lord Brailsford, deferred sentence until 11 December.

Latest in a long line of fathers who did the unthinkable

• MARCUS WESSON: In 2005 Wesson was sentenced to death after being convicted of killing nine of his children, many fathered through incest.

• PERRY SAMUEL: Was sentenced to 30 years after smothering his daughter Caitlin, five, and son Aiden, three, in north Wales, in 2006 because he thought his ex-fiance, Sarah Graham, was having an affair.

• MARVIN GAY SENIOR: On 1 April 1984, Motown superstar Marvin Gaye was shot dead by his father in Los Angeles after an argument over misplaced business documents. He was sentenced to six years' probation for manslaughter.

• JAMES HOWSON: Killed his 16-month-old daughter, Amy, at their home in Doncaster, south Yorkshire, by snapping her spine "in two" over his knee. He was sentenced to at least 22 years last month.

• MOHAMMED RIAZ: Murdered his family in November 2006, in Accrington, Lancashire. Riaz set fire to his house, killing his wife, Canez, 39, daughters Sayrah, 16, Sophia, 13, Alisha, ten, and Hannah, three, because he feared the girls were being raised in an overly westernised culture.