Mrs Patel is charged with murdering her three children

Mrs Patel replied "yes" each time.

Mr Coonan said: "You are charged with three very serious offences, that you murdered Amar. Did you?"

"No", replied Mrs Patel.

"That you murdered Jamie?" asked Mr Coonan.

"No, I did not," replied Mrs Patel.

"And Mia, did you murder her?," asked Mr Coonan.

"No," replied Mrs Patel.

"Is that true?," asked Mr Coonan.

"Yes," said Mrs Patel.

Tearful denial

Mrs Patel later went on to recall the day of Amar's death.

"Amar was lying in his cot, he just did not look normal," she said.

"It was not anything specific I can tell you, I remember going over to him and he did not appear to be breathing."

Mr Coonan asked Mrs Patel: "Amar died at three months old. Did you love him?"

"Yes," replied Mrs Patel, who began crying.

"Did you smother him?" asked Mr Coonan.

"No," replied Mrs Patel, who broke down in the witness box and was shaking.

Mother's anxieties

After the birth of her third child, Jamie, in June 1999, Mrs Patel declined the use of a breathing monitor.

Mr Coonan asked Mrs Patel whether she recalled a meeting with nurse Helen Johnson, who had been appointed to help the family under the Care of the Next Infant scheme offered to parents who had lost a baby.

He asked Mrs Patel whether she recalled telling Ms Johnson that she wanted to enjoy Jamie "for as long as possible, while we still have him".

"Yes," she replied.

"Was there anything sinister in that?" asked Mr Coonan.

"I do not think so," said Mrs Patel.

When asked to explain what she meant, Mrs Patel said: "We have anxieties about whether Jamie might die and in the meantime we wanted to enjoy him just as a baby, not to have any worries."

Baby's collapse

Referring to the day that Jamie collapsed, Mr Coonan said: "At hospital the doctors and nurses did what they could to save Jamie but they could not and he died.

"Mrs Patel did you smother him?"

"No," replied Mrs Patel, breaking down in tears again.

"Did you do anything to hurt him?" asked Mr Coonan.