Mum stabbed her two toddlers to death so that her partner "could not have them."

“If I cannot have them, neither can he.”

Samira Lupidi loved her two daughters. She lived for them. She said, “they were my strength. “

And so when she had an argument with their father, in which she says he slapped her several times, she gathered them up and fled.

There are two contrasting descriptions of Samira Lupidi. Was she a young 24-year-old fleeing domestic violence or was she a violent monster who stabbed her two toddlers brutally – each nine times through their chest –  after attempting to smother them and then admitting “If I can’t have them, he can’t have them either.”

Or is she both?

The 24-year-old mother, originally from Italy, has been found guilty of the murders of her two young daughters, Jasmine Weaver, 17 months and Evelyn Lupidi, aged 3 at a women’s refuge in West Yorkshire in the UK.

Guilty of violently stabbing them with a large kitchen knife after arguing with her former partner on the phone.

Jasmine Weaver, 17 months and Evelyn Lupidi, aged 3 were murdered by their mother. Via Facebook.

Lupidi had told officers that the girls' father - her partner, Carl Weaver, 31 – had slapped her twice the night before and she was scared he was going to kill her.

The two had met in Lupidi’s native Italy and had moved to the UK in 2013. The court heard Lupidi was alone and isolated and was prone to “jealousy” accusing Weaver of “seeing other women.”

Weaver said there were arguments and he “threw things” but never violence. The police officer who attended told the court Lupidi told them Mr Weaver was psychologically and financially controlling.

She said that Lupidi told her that Evelyn was autistic and appeared to require constant attention from her mother. The officer said she had contacted refuges in the West Yorkshire area for Lupidi and the mother and two daughters were relocated there.

According to the BBC Weaver told the court that on November 16 last year he returned from work to find Lupidi and their children gone.

He contacted the police and was told they were safe.

She stabbed the two girls 9 times. Via Facebook.

The next morning,  Weaver said Lupidi rang him at about 11.45am

"She was panicking and crying, shouting and screaming, and said she had 'killed the babies'. I heard the word 'knife'," Mr Weaver said.

Peter Moulson, QC, prosecuting, told the jury staff at the refuge found Lupidi running out of the flat she had been allocated and shouting that she had "killed the children".

He said the worker noted her hands were smeared with blood.

Mr Moulson said Lupidi told another member of staff: "It's his fault. Now he has a reason to kill me. If I can't have them, he can't have them either.

"He was coming to get me. I had to do this."

She said she "had to do it." Via Facebook.

The jury heard that a 33cm stainless steel kitchen knife with a 21cm blade was recovered from the bed of one of the little girls.

He said that after Lupidi was arrested, she said: "I know what I have done. My life is nothing now."

In another statement, refuge worker Shamailar Kosar said Lupidi had told her that her partner was planning to "get rid of her".

She said the defendant told her: "He's going to do something bad to me."

Another refuge worker said in a statement that Lupidi said after the killings: "He said I'm a bad mother. I am now."

The court heard that while Lupidi killed Evelyn Jasmine cried in a way her mother had never before heard. Via Facebook.

The medical examiner said there was evidence of an attempt at smothering both girls but this had not contributed to their deaths.

Dr Hope told the jury that Evelyn, 3, had wounds that were a maximum of 11cm deep and had bruising and grazing to her neck, which was potentially caused by fingernails Jasmine, 17-month-old had wounds with a maximum depth of 12.5cm.

The Yorkshire Post reports that in sentencing Lupidi the judge said, “You killed Evelyn first and then Jasmine. Jasmine, you say later, had been crying while you were killing her sister in a way she had never cried before. “

Shortly after the murders Lupidi told forensic medical examiner Dr Andrew Cobb that she was a “lovely mum.”

Reading Dr Cobb’s statement to the court, Mr Moulson said Lupidi told him “I’m a lovely mum” before adding, “I used to be” and breaking down in tears.

Mr Moulson said Lupidi told Dr Cobb: “My boyfriend says I understand nothing, calling me crazy because I fight a lot with him.”

Dr Cobb described Lupidi as appearing “thin, tense, guarded and quietly desperate” he said he did not judge her to be overtly mentally ill.

The judge said "I believe you killed these children in a spasm of violence triggered by a weekend of violent arguments." Via Facebook.

In court Lupidi admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but denied murdering her two daughters.

But on Tuesday a jury of six men and six women found her guilty of murder after only 90 minutes of deliberation.

The judge said Lupidi was suffering from a depressive disorder at the time of the "violent rage" which led to the killings.

He said: "I believe you killed these children in a spasm of violence triggered by a weekend of violent arguments."

The judge said "you had formed a delusional belief that you were in danger of being killed and that you were going to be abandoned and that you would not see the children again."

You reacted to this very difficult situation by saying 'if I cannot have them, neither can he'."

He said: "This is a crime that speaks of rage and I sentence you on the basis that you killed them in anger and out of a desire for revenge.

"Even a week later you were telling the prison medical staff that the most important thing was that Carl Weaver was suffering."

In the courtroom Lupidi sobbed uncontrollably when she was found guilty and was comforted by a security guard.

In the public gallery there were cries of "yes".

She was jailed for 24 years.

  For domestic violence support 24/7, call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).