Spaniard who killed his kids sentenced to 40 years

Cordoba (Spain), July 23 (IANS/EFE) A judge in this southern Spanish city Monday handed down a 40-year prison sentence to a man convicted of killing his two children in October 2011.

Jose Breton was convicted July 12.

Ruth, 6, and Jose, 2, disappeared Oct 8, 2011, after going to a Cordoba park with their father, who denied killing his children and said he had lost track of them during the outing.

The investigation centered on bones found in the ashes of a bonfire at a rural property owned by Breton's family.

A forensic specialist initially identified the bones as those of animals, but other experts later determined they belonged to children.

The judge asked that the deaths of the children be listed as occurring on the date of their disappearance, and he ruled that their remains - until now in the custody of the court - be turned over to their mother, Ruth Ortiz Ramos, for burial.

A jury of seven women and two men deemed that prosecutors had proven that Breton bought tranquilizers with which he could have "easily put to sleep and even killed his children" and he gathered a supply of wood and acquired fuel with the aim of destroying their bodies.

The jury found that Breton "conceived the idea of killing the children in revenge" against his estranged wife.

--IANS/EFE

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