Days after This Picture Was Taken Darren Jenkinson Killed His Baby Son. Now He Wants His Wife to Forgive Him; Husband Threatens Suicide Unless Mother of Dead Boys Takes Him Back

A FATHER who murdered his two baby sons yesterday threatened to take his own life unless his wife agreed to a reconciliation.Darren Jenkinson telephoned his wife Frances within hours of being found guilty of two charges of murder and five of attempted murder involving their sons, two-month-old Aaron and three-week-old Jacob.Still showing no sign of remorse for his despicable actions, Jenkinson, 29, who is in prison awaiting sentence, begged her to stand by him.But when she told him she wanted a divorce, he callously resorted to emotional blackmail.

Mrs Jenkinson, 24, said: ‘Darren said to me, “I didn’t ask for any of this.” I told him, “Neither did Aaron or Jacob.”‘That’s when he burst into tears and said he did not see the point in him being here any more. That nobody needed him and everyone would be better off without him.’ Mrs Jenkinson added: ‘ I repeated that I wanted a divorce and that I couldn’t be there for him any longer. I told him it would be impossible for me to ever forgive him for what he had done to our babies.’I told him I didn’t want any more letters or telephone calls because I have no interest in knowing his thoughts or feelings any more. It felt awful saying it to him because I’m not a cruel person by nature, but, as I said it, I kept reminding myself of what he had done to Aaron and Jacob.

‘ Mrs Jenkinson said he had stopped talking, then began to cry.She said: ‘He told me, “This is the last thing I needed to hear.” That’s when he told me he would commit suicide.

I don’t know how I managed to get through the phone call without crying myself, but I did. It was only afterwards when I finally put down the receiver that I allowed the tears to come.’ Mrs Jenkinson said she had asked her husband to give her a guarantee that he would not harm himself in prison, but he refused.

She said: ‘I told him I couldn’t cope with him doing something like that after all I had suffered with the deaths of Aaron and Jacob, but he didn’t seem to care.’He asked who he would be able to speak to about how he was feeling each day in prison if he couldn’t speak to me. I suggested his sister in Leicestershire because I didn’t want to know any more.’ A few hours earlier, a jury at the High Court in Glasgow had rejected Jenkinson’s claims that he was suffering from diminished responsibility when he killed Aaron in September 1995 and Jacob in October 1999.He claimed he had killed the children to protect them because he feared he might subject them to the same physical and sexual abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of his father. But he was found guilty of two counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder – relating to previous smothering incidents when the boys were hospitalised.Lord McEwan, deferring sentence for three weeks, described the case as ‘awful and distressing’.

One of the most traumatic moments in the lengthy trial came as the court heard how Jenkinson had held down the babies’ legs to stop them struggling as he suffocated them.A number of female jurors were in tears and unable to follow a transcript of Jenkinson’s interview with police and his wife fled the courtroom in distress.That morning, before appearing in court to give evidence on his own behalf, Jenkinson had finally decided to confess to his wife in private about the truth of their children’s deaths. However, it is testament to her strength of character and depths of concern that she cannot find it in herself to hate Jenkinson despite his horrific actions.

Last night she said: ‘I don’t love him any more and I could easily despise him for what he has done, but I feel nothing but pity.’I think deep down he knows his actions have ended any future together we might have had.’I intend to get a divorce as quickly as possible and make sure he is out of my life for good. I won’t be used for emotional blackmail.’ She added: ‘I’ve been through too much already and if Darren chooses to eventually make his threat reality, then it is really no concern of mine.

I have my own life to rebuild now and I don’t intend for him to have any part in it.’