Maxine Cope (later Robinson), living at White Hill Crescent,
Pelton separated from her 9-month-old daughter Vicki's father Les Cope after
the child’s June 1969 death. As was so common at the time, Vicki’s demise was
attributed to the vague non-diagnosis SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, commonly
known in England as “cot death.”
After Maxine and Les they divorced, she married Peter
Robinson, the father of Anthony and Christine, who, like their half-sister,
were not long for this world. Anthony survived a mere 5 months, Christine did
much better, living well past her first birthday, perishing at the age of 19 months.
“Cot death” explained the tragedies away, or so it seemed. Police arrested both
parents for questioning, but with no evidence or confession there could be no
charges levied. Neighbors were convinced the babies had been murdered and
hounded the Robinsons from the neighborhood. Peter was sure his wife had done
it, too, but could not prove it. The marriage ended.
Years later, Warren Cope, Peter’s brother, disclosed that "Les
doted on his little girl. She was rushed to hospital and they said it was cot
death. He came home afterwards and he was absolutely broken-hearted. He went on
to have a nervous breakdown."
Currently accessible reports do not explain what led to the final
arrest of Maxine Robinson. But she was, indeed, again arrested and formally
charged. She claimed innocence, but her
The 1995 trial of the killer mom offered chilling details of
Maxine’s ice-hearted methodical crimes.
Their father, Peter, had carried
the sleeping children to bed in their different bedrooms on June 29, 1993,
after they had spent a ''gloriously sunny day'' playing in a paddling pool in
the garden. Robinson had gone into each bedroom in turn and placed a pillow
over the faces of the children. She had then calmly gone downstairs and watched
television and later gone into the garden with her husband. Later in the
evening, she contrived a way of pretending to discover the children had died by
claiming she had heard her little boy crying. [The Herald (Scotland), Apr.
11, 1995]
She announced her faux discovery to her husband, by telling him,
without emotion that “I think the bairns are dead.”
Peter, a former security guard, and “neighbours made frantic
efforts to revive the children, Robinson had sat motionless downstairs and made
no attempt to help. . . . The efforts to resuscitate the youngsters were doomed
to failure because they had died two and a half hours earlier.”
It was a three-week trial, ending with two guilty verdicts
and a sentence of life in prison. The prosecutor “said there were no plans to
look any further into the cot death of Robinson's first daughter,” since there
was no evidence to suggest that was anything other than a tragic cot death.”
~ Maxine in Prison ~
Maxine was sent to high-security Durham Prison, presumably
to protect her from other inmates, a population known to have lethal hostility
to child abusers.
It was during a mandatory rehabilitation therapy session, in
January 2003, that Maxine finally let down her guard and confessed to the two
murders. When later interviewed by police, she shocked them by also admitting
that she had murdered Vicky too, by choking her to death with a deflated balloon
he had gotten at a “fun fair.”
Overnight, Maxine went from being a cold cucumber pretending
innocence to being hotly repentant. She stated she wanted to be properly
punished for her deeds.
During the three-week trial for the 1993 murder it was
learned that Maxine had a troubled relationship to her own mom -- Ann Leggett,
a former Nanny – and felt supplanted as a parent to her babies, stating:
"I felt she was the mother and I was only allowed to be there, and even
then it was begrudgingly."
The judge stated, when ordering a three-year extension to
Mazine’s standing sentence by three years, that the case was a
"timely" reminder that "not all mothers in prison for killing
their children are the victims of miscarriages of justice,” referring the
efforts by gender theory activists to treat female criminals as unaccountable
subjects of social oppression.
[Robert St. Estephe, Nov. 9, 2019]
***
CHRONOLOGY
June 16, 1989 – Victoria (Vicki) Cope (9 mo) murdered,
suffocation with deflated balloon bought at a “fun fair”; Pelton.
1989? – divorces Les Cope.
Jun. 29, 1993 – Anthony (5 mo), Christine (19 mo) murdered,
suffocation in both cases; Ouston, County Durham. MR is 21.
1993? – divorces Peter Robinson.
Jan. 27, 1993 – MR arrested.
Mar. 1995 – 3-week trial, Sheffield Crown Court.
Apr. 11, 1995 – Maxine Robinson was convicted of murdering
Anthony and Christine. Sheffield Crown Court. (Reported Apr. 11)
Apr. 10, 1995 – sentenced to two life terms in prison.
Jan. 2003 – MR (35), prison confession, during counselling,
to all 3 murders; high-security Durham Prison.
Apr. 22, 2004 – pleads guilty to the murder of Vicki in 1989
and accepted her guilt over the deaths of her other children. Newcastle Crown
Court.
Jun. 18, 2004 – sentenced to 3 years for Victoria’s murder.
(reported Jan. 18).
***
[“Mother jailed for killing children Son and daughter were
suffocated as they slept,” The Herald (Scotland), Apr. 11, 1995]
[“Mother charged with daughter's murder,” BBC News, Jan. 29, 2003]
[Hilary Clixby, “Murdered
by Their Mother,” The Journal (Newcastle, England) Apr. 23, 2004]
[Paul Stokes, “Mother confesses to third child murder,” The
Telegraph (London), Apr. 23, 2004]
[“Three extra years for baby killer,” BBC News, Jun. 18,
2004]
[“I killed my first child: A mum serving life for murdering
two of her children has finally admitted killing her first child.” Evening
Chronicle (London), Apr. 23, 2004; Updated Feb. 28, 2013]
***
***
[616-1/14/21]
***
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