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A County Antrim woman has been jailed for a minimum of 20 years for the murder and attempted murder of her two sons.

In what the judge described as a "savage attack", the 42-year-old stabbed her two-year-old son to death on 2 March 2020.

She also attempted to kill his 11-month-old brother.

The children were given the names "John" and "Gerard" to protect the surviving child's identity.

The court heard the children would have felt "severe pain and distress" despite their mother placing morphine patches on both infants before the attack.

It happened at a house on the outskirts of Larne, County Antrim.

The woman received an automatic life sentence for the murder charge.

Noting that the youngest child would also have died if it had not been for the intervention of the emergency services, Judge Patricia Smyth also imposed a life sentence for the attempted murder.

The judge told the woman she would spend a minimum of 20 years in prison before she could be considered for release.

The court previously heard that the victims were found by their father in a master bedroom upstairs with their mother.

He had returned from work and called an ambulance after a series of text messages from his partner, which ended with her texting she had killed the boys and that she was dying too.

The woman originally pleaded not guilty to the offences and put forward a defence of diminished responsibility at a trial earlier this year.

When that medical defence proved unsustainable after examination by medical experts, she changed her pleas to guilty on both counts.

PSNI Det Insp Michelle Griffin said it was a case that would never be forgotten.

"A young and innocent life was taken, leaving a loving father and family distraught and truly heartbroken. 

"Unfortunately, there is nothing - no words - that can undo this loss or ease their pain. And today, first and foremost, our thoughts are with them," she added.

The judge also rejected the woman's claim that she had been previously subjected to emotional abuse by the children's father.

"This tragic case also brought to light an underlying element of domestic abuse.

"Throughout the case, the father of the children, along with a previous husband of the defendant, spoke of the controlling behaviour and emotional abuse that both had suffered at the hands of the defendant.

"Their distress was added to by allegations by the defendant herself that she had been the subject of domestic abuse, which were unsubstantiated."

Det Insp Griffin also said: "Domestic abuse is not just physical. It can happen to anyone and there shouldn't be any stigma surrounding male victims.

"I want to encourage anyone who is being threatened, abused, controlled or intimidated by someone they live with, or are in a relationship with, to come forward."