Father mourns babies killed by mum for getting in way of sex work
The father of two daughters murdered by their mother so she could make more time for her sex work has paid tribute to them after their funerals.
Louise Porton, 23, was jailed for life last month for killing daughters Lexi Draper, 3, and Scarlett Vaughan, 16 months, in January and February 2018.
A court heard the escort killed her daughters because they got in the way of her sex work.
On Monday, their father Chris Draper was finally able to lay them to rest in West Midlands in the UK more than a year and a half after they were murdered.
He posted images from their funerals on Facebook, and wrote: “My girls am home know today your family lay u to rest even though you shouldnt be there [sic].”
“Your daddy babys has sent you away in stile and the whole of walsall and bloxwhich knows who you are and to some people you are loved [sic].
“Youll be missed but never forgotten sleep tight babys daddy got you [sic].
“Daddy will always have your back”.
Later, he posted another Facebook message in response to media reports about the funerals, saying: "I dont see this a bad thing they have been on my facebook i see this as thankyou because now people know these girls was loved and know they have had the bigger send off [sic].”
Porton, formerly of Skiddaw, Rugby, Warwickshire, was ordered to serve a minimum of 32 years in prison after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Jurors heard that Porton had accepted 41 friend requests on a dating app just a day after Lexi died.
When the toddler was ill in hospital, just over a week before she died, Porton – who described herself as a model – had taken topless photos in the toilets and was arranging to perform sex acts in exchange for money with a man she had met through a website.
Evidence showed that Porton had carried out damning internet searches including: “Why did my 3 year(-old) stop breathing”, and “Why do toddler having a fit stop them breathing” in early January 2018.
Police said it was “clear from the evidence” of those searches and Lexi’s two hospital admissions in January 2018 that Porton had tried to kill her daughter twice before eventually succeeding.
She suffocated Lexi in the early hours of January 15 last year and was heard “laughing” at a funeral parlour two days before killing Scarlett just over two weeks later, on February 1.
“The overwhelming inference is Lexi and Scarlett died because someone deliberately interfered with their breathing,” prosecutor Oliver Saxby QC told jurors during the trial.
“At times, her two children got in the way of her doing what she wanted, when she wanted and with whom she wanted.”
Jailing Porton, Judge Justice Amanda Yip described her actions as "evil" and "calculated".
"These were blameless young children who were plainly vulnerable and ought to have been able to rely on their mother to protect and nurture them,” she told Porton.
"Instead you took their young lives away."
Their father, Mr Draper, who had never met Scarlett and was estranged from Porton, said he had been left “broken” by their deaths and with “nothing to live for”.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, he said: "I sit and think, day and night, and I can't understand why my two little girls were taken away because Louise wanted to sleep around.”
He said he “hated” the children’s mother, adding: "No punishment will ever be enough, as I will never get my daughters back."
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