'Scorned mum started house fire' - The Sun

A MUM killed two of her children after setting fire to her house to create a "drama" when she found out her partner was cheating, a court has heard.

Fiona Adams, 23, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Niamh, five, and two-year-old Cayden, who died in last April's late-night blaze.

She escaped from the house by jumping from an upstairs window with her eight-month-old son, Kiernan.

Prosecutor Timothy Spencer QC told jurors that Adams sought attention from her partner James Maynard, the children's father, after their relationship broke down.

He added she was "in an unhappy situation".

Mr Spencer said: "No decent human being could fail to have sympathy with her predicament.

"There were many ways with which she could have dealt with things. What she chose to do was to create a drama around herself and her children, and that drama culminated in her setting fire to her own home.

"The result of which was the fire took a rapid and devastating hold.

"She and her youngest child were spared, but with serious injuries. But her two eldest children died in the fire."

He said Adams, who wore a T-shirt in court that revealed burn scars on her neck, had also threatened suicide.

She found out 28-year-old Mr Maynard had cheated on her several times, the first being shortly after the birth of their first child.

Nottingham Crown Court heard that despite their troubled relationship, the couple went on to have Cayden in September 2007.

However, they split up in May 2008 after Adams, of Buxton, Derbys, found out more details about Mr Maynard's relationship with the other woman.

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Adams, who also denies causing grievous bodily harm and arson with intent, reconciled with Mr Maynard at some point in late 2008 and gave birth to Kiernan in August 2009, Mr Spencer said.

The court heard she told a friend over Facebook that she had "tried to split up with him once or twice but went completely off the rails so ended up back with him".

Mr Spencer also read the court text messages between Adams and Mr Maynard, who was repeatedly late home from his job waiting tables and bartending at a hotel.

She would send him numerous messages asking when he would be home or why he was late and would often get a non-committal reply, or none at all.

The trial continues.