Mum who stabbed three kids to death over bitter custody battle found dead in prison

A mum who stabbed her three young children to death after a bitter divorce battle has been found dead in a high-security prison.

Theresa Riggi, 49, is believed to have committed suicide inside notorious Rampton hospital in Nottinghamshire.

Staff found the American's body in the early hours of the morning and called paramedics but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

She was serving a 16 year sentence for the killings of her eight-year-old twin sons Austin and Gianluca and five-year-old daughter Cecilia.

Riggi, who was transferred to Rampton several months ago, stabbed the youngsters to death at the family home in Edinburgh in 2010.

The evil mum used a different knife to stab each child eight time following a bitter marriage split from their dad Pasquale.

She then tried to cover up their deaths with a gas explosion at the posh townhouse before leaping from a balcony - only to survive the 40ft fall.

She was jailed the following year after admitting culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Riggi was disfigured for life by a fellow inmate while being held in Cornton Vale women's prison near Stirling in 2012.

She was moved to Rampton from a psychiatric unit in Scotland late last year because it was felt medics there were better placed to treat her.

California-born Riggi was housed in the hospital's main wing alongside other notorious patients including 'Angel of Death' child killer Beverley Allitt.

Soham murderer Ian Huntley was also once treated at Rampton, a high-security facility near Retford, Notts.

When Riggi was jailed at the High Court in Glasgow, judge Lord Bracadale described the killings as "grotesque" and "truly disturbing".

He added: "The result of these acts is a devastating family tragedy.

"The father of the children, Pasquale Riggi, and the wider family have been left utterly bereft by the loss of the children.

"And you, who had a genuine but abnormal and possessive love of your children, have lost them and are brought to this sorry pass."

He said that while Riggi's responsibility had been diminished, she was still responsible for her actions.

The court heard psychiatrists agreed she suffered from narcissistic, paranoid and histrionic disorders.

Riggi vanished with her three children in July 2010 and they were the subject of a missing persons appeal.

Police eventually traced them to a flat on the west side of Edinburgh later the same month but officers took no further action.

On August 3, Theresa Riggi failed to turn up to a custody hearing.

The judge duly instructed that she be traced and a decision taken by social workers as to whether her children should be taken into care.

But tragically the next day the children were found dead.

A Nottinghamshire Police spokeswoman said: "We were called to Rampton in the early hours of this morning to the death of a woman.

"It's not being treated as suspicious and we are preparing a file for the coroner."

Mirror