A MOTHER listened on the telephone as her estranged husband killed their four young sons and then himself, an inquest was told yesterday.

In a series of late-night calls Samantha Tolley, 28, pleaded with him not to kill the boys out of revenge because she was pregnant by another man.Their sons died in a fume-filled car parked in a remote spot before police could reach them, the inquest in Wrexham, North Wales, was told.

At one point Keith Young, 38, a farm worker, from Winsford in Cheshire, told his oldest son, Joshua, seven, to speak on the mobile phone to say goodbye and to tell his mother how much he loved her. Then he told her the moment when the children, Joshua, Thomas, six, Callum, five, and Daniel, three, sitting on his lap, had died from exhaust fumes filling the Mitsubishi Shogun from a petrol-driven lawnmower.

He was heard becoming drowsy and then snoring, followed by a 20-minute silence broken by the voices of police officers who had found the vehicle on the Horseshoe Pass, near Llangollen. It was too late for the occupants.

The couple’s marriage, which had always been tempestuous, was punctuated by separations. It finally foundered shortly before last Christmas when Ms Tolley sought refuge from his violence in a hostel.

Mr Young, a strongly built man who once worked as a nightclub doorman, appeared to sink into depression after his wife moved into a new home with the boys in nearby Weaverham. Although she refused his pleas for a reconciliation, she regarded him as a loving father and he had regular access to the children.

In February he made his first threat, repeated often to relatives and friends, that he was going to kill himself and the children. It was considered an idle claim.

On the weekend before the tragedy Ms Tolley told her husband that she was pregnant by another man. She described an emotional few days where, at one point, she told him bluntly that she had no real feelings left for him and no longer wanted to “live a lie”.

On March 26 Mr Young made tea for the boys at his home. He appeared “quite tranquil”. At about 11pm he rang his wife to say that he was fine. She said he told her he had “come to terms with the fact that we could not get on and that as long as we could remain friends he could cope”.

An hour later she received a call from Emma Tolley, her sister-in-law, who warned her that Mr Young had called, telling her: “Don’t tell Sam but she will not see the lads again.”

John Hughes, the coroner, said that when Ms Tolley rang her husband’s mobile, he told her even before she had said hello to “save your breath”.

“You asked where the boys were and he said they were with him. You were asking him repeatedly where he was because you were desperately worried about their safety and said you would get the police.

“He said it would not matter because by the time they found him, they would be dead.” Ms Tolley telephoned the police, giving them the car registration and addresses where he might be. Mr Young called again, telling his wife: “I hope you are happy and have a grudge against that baby for the rest of your life.”

Then he said: “Can you hear the moans?” Ms Tolley then rang the police again “petrified about what was going on”.

Officers arrived at the house in time to hear Mr Young ring back and tell her: “Is it worth it? Are you hurting?” Ms Tolley asked where he was and said that she wanted to speak to the children.

“He said if you ask that again I’ll put the phone down,” Mr Hughes said. She repeated her demand and he slammed the phone down. “You were frantic,” the coroner said.

At 1.15am Mr Young called again. Ms Tolley could hear the sound of the lawnmower in the car. “You, in your desperation, told him you would get rid of your baby if he came home and you would make it (their marriage) work,” the coroner said.

“He said it was too late. If he came home you would have him arrested.

“You kept saying, ‘It is not too late, just bring them home’. Then he said, ‘It is too late. Daniel has died’.”

Inside the car the officers found one of Mr Young’s wedding photographs and a letter about the couple’s divorce.

The coroner recorded a verdict of unlawful killing for the boys and suicide by Mr Young. “It has been one of the most harrowing cases I have ever dealt with,” he said.

The coroner told Ms Tolley that nobody at the hearing could feel anything but sympathy for her. “Our hearts go out to you,” he said.

After the hearing Sarah Lapsley, a solicitor for Ms Tolley, said that Ms Tolley had lost the baby she was carrying.

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