Fiona Donnison

Case record: Fiona Donnison

Background

Fiona Donnison was 45 years old at the time she showed up in front of local authorities to confess that she had killed her two small children and was turning herself in.

Fiona Donnison and Paul Donnison had a nine-year relationship but did not marry. During their relationship, Donnison took Paul Donnison’s name by deed poll. They separated in September 2009 when she abruptly left the family home in Heathfield, East Sussex, taking the children.

Paul Donnison had shared a house with his ex-wife Linda and two older children, but he moved in with Donnison in 2005 after the death of their first child Mia.

After Donnison left the family home, she moved with the two children from Heathfield in East Sussex to rented accommodation in Surrey.

Donnison had been made redundant from her job as a credit manager for a Lloyd’s insurance syndicate, St Paul Syndicate Management. She was described as having a history of increasingly erratic behaviour after the loss of Mia and stress from mounting credit card debts.

The offence

Fiona Donnison smothered her three-year-old son, Harry, and her two-year-old daughter, Elise.

Police found Harry and Elise in the boot of her car after she drove to a police station.

The bodies of Harry and Elise were found zipped into two duffel bags/sports holdalls in the boot of Donnison’s car near the former family home in Heathfield.

The jury was told that the children were most likely suffocated with pillows the night before at Donnison’s rented house in Lightwater, Surrey.

The children were described as “delightful, well-mannered, affectionate children” by those who knew them.

Additional suspected death (infant Mia)

After incarceration, it came to light that police believed Donnison may have also been the cause of the death of the couple’s first child, Mia.

Mia died when she was nine months old. It was originally believed that the child died from what is known as “cot death,” the equivalent of America’s SIDS. Following re-examination of Mia’s death, Donnison was charged with the death of the infant in addition to the other two deaths.

It was alleged that Donnison smothered Mia to strike back at her lover for attending a function for his ex-wife.

A judge later dismissed the additional charges relating to Mia due to a lack of evidence, and the jury trying Harry and Elise’s murders was never told that she had been charged.

A distressing 999 call included Donnison saying:

‘She’s not moving at all. Her eyes are completely shut. Oh no. What have I done?’

Investigation and arrest

Suspicions were raised when local police noticed cuts on Donnison’s wrists and thought she was intoxicated when she arrived at their offices.

After she was treated for apparently self-inflicted wounds, Donnison walked into Heathfield police station and attended in a distressed state.

Detectives, led by Det Ch Insp Steve Johns from Sussex Police’s Major Crime Branch, were given authority to charge Donnison with the murders at 1.54am on Saturday.

Donnison was remanded in custody and appeared at Lewes Magistrates' Court. There was no application for bail and no plea was entered during the hearing. The case was adjourned and Donnison was next to appear at Lewes Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on February 12.

At the time the children were found, initial post-mortem examinations indicated that the children died from asphyxia and had been dead for less than 24 hours when they were found.

Toxicology results were awaited to confirm the cause of death.

Police found what appeared to be a hand-written suicide note addressed to Donnison’s two teenage sons from her marriage, containing:

‘I am so sorry that I won’t be there to see you grow up. I loved you all more than life itself.’

Police also found that in the days before the deaths Donnison falsely accused Paul Donnison of assaulting her, broke into the Sussex house by throwing a brick through the window, and refused to leave when police were called.

PC Toby Young found the two toddlers wrapped in blankets in Donnison’s car and said they were beyond help.

Police officers were described as having been called to the family’s home several times, with the last time being on Tuesday night.

Social services had known of serious problems within the family for six months after a series of reports of domestic violence, but after assessment social workers decided not to take the children into care.

Trial

During Donnison’s trial, psychiatrists who examined her after her arrest diagnosed her as having a narcissistic personality with an inflated sense of her own importance and entitlement.

Paul Donnison gave evidence and described the last time he saw Harry and Elise alive, stating:

‘Harry was in his pyjamas and he came over and wrapped his little arms around me and we hugged and I gave him the toy and I was kneeling down.
‘He had his arms around my shoulders and my neck and I was cuddling him.
‘And Fiona was standing two or three feet away with a look of absolute hatred and evil on her face. Harry was then shooed back into his bedroom.
‘That was the last time I saw him alive.
‘I then went to Elise's bedroom and she was peacefully asleep. I gave her a peck on the cheek, she just wiggled her nose.
‘She didn't wake. And that was the last time I saw Elise.’

The jury heard that Donnison had changed her name by deed poll without telling Paul Donnison.

Prosecutors said Donnison used the children as the “ultimate weapon” to get back at Paul Donnison after he started a new relationship with an old school friend.

Christine Laing QC, prosecuting, said that on more than one occasion she went to Mrs Shimmens’ house in Surrey ‘to warn her off him’ and told the 48-year-old: ‘Why don’t you leave him alone?’

Lewes Crown Court was told that Donnison had used Harry and Elise as the “ultimate and final weapon” to get back at him for starting a new relationship with Miss Shimmens.

Donnison denied two counts of murder and the case continued.

During the trial, the father was described as refusing to look at Donnison as she sat in the dock with her head bowed.

Sentencing

On August 9, 2011, Donnison was sentenced to two life sentences, with a minimum of 32 years.

Judge Mr Justice Nicol described the murders as “deliberate and wicked acts” and said:

‘The premature end of such young lives would have been a tragedy, but this was no accident. You killed them – you, who were their mother.’

Appeals

No appeals were described in the provided material.

Outcome

Fiona Donnison was convicted of 2 counts of murder.

Aftermath

In an emotional address on the steps of the court, Mr Donnison called for the death penalty while criticising the criminal justice system, saying he had fewer rights than his children’s killer, and he said:

‘Taking a life is the most obscene act that anyone can commit, which in my view should receive an equal punishment,’
‘The pain and agony my family and I have suffered over the last year and a half over the murder of my beautiful children, Harry and Elise, has been almost unbearable. ‘The lives of these two beautiful, innocent and wonderful babies were taken from them in a most horrible and disgusting way. They did not stand a chance. The saddest thing today is that they will not grow older and enjoy their lives.’

Relatives shouted “We love you, Fiona” and “We love you, Fi” as Donnison left court following her initial remand hearing.

Other details

• Donnison walked into a police station saying: ‘I’ve killed my children.’
• She was heard speaking in a monotone and had cuts to one wrist.
• The children were described as aged three (Harry) and two (Elise).
• Elise was described as dressed in a pink romper suit, and Harry was described as dressed in red Roary the Racing Car pyjamas.
• Donnison was armed with two kitchen knives when she drove from Lightwater, Surrey to Heathfield, East Sussex.
• Donnison drove 90 miles to Heathfield and stopped to buy sleeping pills on the way.
• Donnison expected Paul Donnison to be at the marital home but he was spending the night with Miss Shimmens.
• A handwritten suicide note was found in the car addressed to Donnison’s two teenage sons from her marriage.
• Donnison’s brother Mark, 46, said the family believed it was her original plan to either kill Paul and blame the children’s death on him, or frame him for the murders, and he said:

  ‘Paul will never get over this. He is absolutely devastated. Those children were his life and now he will never see them grow up. Everything has been taken away from him.’

• During his own evidence, Paul Donnison refused to accept accusations that he once grabbed Harry after he refused to eat his dinner and held his face by his chin to make him say the word sorry.
• Paul Donnison described Harry as a typical naughty toddler and said he would be made to sit on the ‘naughty step’ at the bottom of the stairs.
• Jenny Woodhouse, director of Huffle Nursery in Heathfield, said:

  ‘They were lovely children. They were very well-behaved children.’
  ‘We had a huge input with him. We saw a lot of Harry in particular and in the end Elise as well so the staff were very involved with their early years.’
  ‘Harry was a very, very quiet baby, but when he got a little older he was a much more open child.’

• Donnison was described as leaving school at 18 and working in Spain as a nanny for five years before landing a job as a credit manager.
• It was stated that Donnison became pregnant in the first months of her relationship with Paul Donnison and gave birth to Mia in 2003.
• Donnison’s defence was described as being that she was “mad, not bad,” and she went to great lengths to try to convince police, her family, and the courts that she had lost her mind and had no memory of what she had done.
• Mr Donnison was questioned at length about his relationship with old school friend Alison Shimmens.
• Marked as discharged from Eastbourne District General Hospital after being treated for apparently self-inflicted wounds.
• Donnison’s address at the magistrates hearing was given as Lightwater, Surrey.
• At the time of the magistrates’ court appearance, Donnison was described as 43 years old.
• Donnison was remanded and appeared at Lewes Magistrates’ Court flanked by two security guards, wearing a long blue jumper.