Mother stabs her two daughters to death because she suspects one has cancer

A depressed mother stabbed her two young children to death because she thought her eldest daughter had cancer, an inquest heard.

Marta Galikowska, 27, then turned the knife on herself and cut her own throat on October 12 last year. The bodies of Marta, her five-year-old daughter Maja and 20-month-old Olga were discovered by her husband Marcin Galikowski, 28, when he returned from work.

Thursday North Staffordshire Coroner's Court heard that the tragic mum had become convinced that Maja had cancer after she found a lump under her jaw. Mrs Galikowska was prescribed antidepressants by a GP a week before her death after telling her husband that she wanted to kill herself and the children.

The case was referred to social services but after visiting the family, social workers said they did not have any immediate concerns about the children's safety.

Following the deaths, police arrested Mr Galikowski but he was released without charge.

A post-mortem revealed they had all died from stab wounds to the neck. Tests also revealed that the lump under Maja's jaw was a benign cyst.

The bereaved dad - who works as a binman - told the inquest his wife believed their daughters were going to be taken away by social services.

The inquest heard Mrs Galikowska, originally from Przemysl - a city in south east Poland - moved to Stoke-on-Trent with her husband in 2010. Mrs Galikowska had worked as a waitress and at clothes store TK Maxx before becoming a full-time mum.

Speaking at the time of the tragedy, neighbours told of their horror. Matthew Houghton, 30, said: "My brother said he heard a woman screaming, that someone was being killed, so we ran up the street. There was a woman already on the phone to the police She was hysterical, saying they were all dead, that they'd all been stabbed. She'd been in the house and seen it."

A serious case review is underway to see whether anything could have been done to save Mrs Galikowski and her two children.