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A heavily pregnant mother drowned her three small children in the bath and scrawled “I love you x” on their bodies before leaping to her death, an inquest heard on Thursday.

Police who went to Fiona Anderson’s home after finding her body at the bottom of a multi-storey car park discovered the children tucked up in their mother’s bed with their teddies.

All three had lipstick kisses on their forehead, and messages written on the wall included: “I love them and I’m going to keep them safe.”

Anderson, 23, killed the two boys and a girl aged between 11 months and three after her former partner, the children’s father, said he was in a new relationship.

The tragic deaths left social services in the dock yesterday as the inquest heard the family were known to child protection officers.

Social workers visited them more than 50 times between 2009 and last year and were aware the two older children had been sleeping in a double buggy and fed on biscuits.

A serious case review by independent expert Ron Lock for Suffolk Local Safeguarding Children Board said the family were considered “hard to reach” because of Anderson’s “unwavering and determined” refusal to engage with staff.

Child protection plans were allowed to “drift” and while legal intervention was considered, no court action was taken. Anderson’s refusal to co-operate also meant her mental health was never assessed. Lock said the deaths were not foreseeable but concluded: “If the children had been placed into care this could have avoided this tragic outcome.”

Anderson was seen wandering around Lowestoft in Suffolk clutching a teddy bear for 90 minutes on April 15 last year before jumping to her death. Her unborn baby, who was due two months later, died with her.

When police went to her flat in the town they found the bodies of Levina, 3,, Addy, 2, and 11-month-old Kyden.

She had written “I love you x” with a small heart on their stomachs and they all had lipstick kisses on their foreheads. Scrawled on the walls were messages including: “I put them to bed with their bears — they loved their bears.” Another said: “They’re cuddled up together sleeping. They look so peaceful.”

Officers discovered evidence they had been drowned in the bath. A postmortem examination found nothing to suggest they had been restrained or assaulted.

Anderson had the names of each of her children written on her body, along with the name Eve for her unborn daughter. Chief Inspector Andy Smith told the hearing in Bury St Edmunds that Anderson had argued the night before with the children’s father, Craig McClellan, after he told her he was in a new relationship.

She told him, “Say goodnight to the children as it’s the last time you’ll see them”, before stabbing him, the inquest heard.

McClellan, who also lives in Lowestoft, was treated at a hospital but told police he had been attacked in the street by a stranger. “He later told us he lied to protect Fiona and stop the children being taken into care,” Smith said.

The officer added that a torn-up letter found in a bin provided a “harrowing insight” into Anderson’s state of mind. “She felt unable to cope with the situation and apologetically outlined her intention to take the children with her,” he said. ‘In her words: “A mother never abandons her children”.’ Coroner Dr Peter Dean said: ‘It seems there were missed opportunities to engage with a non-engaging family.

“It was perhaps wise, instead of doing the same thing for 18 months, to stop what you’re doing and see if there is a different way.’

Dr Dean said he didn’t want to “imply liability”, but “the required steps were not approached to psychologically assess” Anderson. — DailyMail.