Post mortem results show Kenton mother suffocated her two children before hanging herself

By Lorraine King - KilburnTimes.co.uk

January 15, 2014

A post mortem result on two young children who were killed by their mother before she took her own life in Kenton has shown they were suffocated.

Jeyavani Vageswaran, and her sons Anopan, five, and seven-month-old Nathiban, were found at their maisonette in Woodgrange Close on Thursday evening.

Mrs Vageswaran’s husband Sakthivel, an accountant, is believed to have found their bodies when he retuned from work at 5.20pm.

A post mortem carried out on Friday showed the 33-year-old died from compression to the neck caused by hanging.

A spokesman for Brent Council told the Times the family was known to them.

He added: “It would be inappropriate to comment further whilst the police investigation is at such an early stage.”

Tashma Brown, a neighbour, told the Times said she regularly overheard the Sri Lankan couple rowing and once alerted police out of concern.

The mother-of-two said: “They were always arguing and shouting.”

Adding that Mrs Vageswaran was a recluse, she said: “She is a not person you see often.

“You only see her when she is coming out with the kids.”

Jay Moises, 28, another neighbour, regularly walked her children to school with Ms Vageswaran and her son, who was a pupil at nearby Mount Stewart Primary School in Carlisle Gardens.

She said: “As soon as he [a neighbour] said there has been a murder I started shaking and I text my partner and said come home because I was worried.”

Cllr Reg Colwill, Conservative councillor for the Kenton ward, said he was saddened and shocked by the incident.

He said: It’s sad especially when children are involved.

“I think they (residents) would be shocked because we don’t get this kind of incident that much at this end of the borough.

Detectives from the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command are not looking for anyone else in connection with the three deaths.

An inquest into all three deaths is expected to open at Barnet Coroner’s Court later this week.

Last picture of young children killed by their mother in Brent murder-suicide

By David Churchill and Justin Davenport - Standard.co.uk

January 13, 2014

Jeyavani Vageswaran, 33, posted the photograph on Facebook on New Year’s Day, less than two weeks before apparently killing them both and taking her own life at their home in Harrow.

Today it emerged their accountant father, Sakthivel Vageswaran, 36, who found the bodies of his wife and children, had moved to England after fleeing Sri Lanka’s conflict with the Tamil population.

He is said to be “inconsolable” and too distraught to talk.

Friends paid tribute to the brothers, Anopan, five, and eight-month-old Nathiban, as they struggled to explain the mother’s actions.

Police have launched a murder investigation but they say they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the three deaths.

Santhan Sivapatham, a friend of the couple who lived with them for more than two years, said: “Their first child was a very happy boy and very intelligent and always very friendly. They both were.

“Sometimes, because my room was next door, he would come into my room and play. I cried when I found out about this news because I still can’t believe it.”

He added: “They wanted to live here because of the civil war in our country and I think he also came to finish his studies here. Then his wife came later so they could be here and enjoy life. It’s tragic. I think after the second baby they had a problem, but I still don’t know what happened.

“They were both dedicated and very intelligent people. She was a graduate from university and studied in Sri Lanka. He went to university too. They were both educated. They always seemed a happy family and she was a very good mother. It’s very sad and very strange.”

Neighbours reported hearing a young baby crying non-stop at the house in Woodgrange Close last Wednesday night. Mrs Vageswaran and her sons were found dead at about 5.20pm the next day.

A post-mortem examination found Mrs Vageswaran died from compression of the neck after she hanged herself. Post-mortem examinations on the children are due to be carried out tomorrow.

Mr Vageswaran came to England about ten years ago to escape a clampdown on the Tamils and study at South Bank University.

His wife joined him in 2010, and they bought their family home, where his firm Vaasi Accountancy was based. Neighbours suggested the couple had been having marital problems.

Tashma Brown, 34, said: “I heard them through the walls shouting a lot and they even sometimes came outside and he would walk away.

“The last time I heard them arguing was about a week before Christmas and then on Tuesday or Wednesday night the baby was crying for almost an hour … she sounded really upset and like she was telling him to shut up.”

Mahendran Sathyanarayanan 39, Mr Vageswaran’s cousin, said: “We are really feeling very sad. I’m feeling like I can’t believe it, maybe we will be able to believe it eventually.

“He is inconsolable about it and still not properly able to speak about it.”

'He's still screaming for his babies': Father's horror as he returns home to find 'wife had murdered their sons and then killed herself'

• Baby, aged seven months, and boy, five, thought to have been murdered

• Jeyavani Vageswaran, 33, is thought to have murdered the children before killing herself

• Accountant husband Sakthivel Vageswaran returned home to find all three of them dead

• Police say they are not seeking anyone else in connection with the deaths

• Family lived in a two-bedroom first floor maisonette in Harrow

By Sara Smyth and Christian Gysin and Louise Eccles

January 10, 2014

A father arrived home to find his wife had killed their two young sons before apparently killing herself, police revealed yesterday.

Accountant Sakthivel Vageswaran, 36, found the bodies of five-year-old Anopan and eight-month-old Nathiban in black bin bags when he returned from work. Wife Jeyavani was also dead.

Mr Sakthivel is said to be still ‘screaming for his babies’ and will not return to the family home in Harrow, North London.

Gowthamy Mahadeva, 49, who has known the couple for more than ten years, said: ‘I saw him just this morning and his eyes are empty.

‘He’s screaming and crying for his babies and says he can’t set foot in that house again. It’s desperately sad.’

Neighbours said the couple were struggling with their new baby and would argue, but Mrs Mahadeva said there had been no mention of post-natal depression. ‘She had miscarried in 2011 she was a strong woman and she bounced back.

'The morning of the tragedy she made her husband’s lunch before he went to work. When he came home his children were lying dead in a black bag. It’s hard to believe that such a gentle, maternal woman could do this.’

Mrs Mahadeva said she and her friends had missed calls from Mrs Sakthivel on Wednesday – the day before the bodies were found – which she now believes was a cry for help. ‘I’m never going to forget missing that call,’ she said.

‘She tried a few friends but when people called back on Thursday, there was no answer.’

Police revealed that they were not seeking anyone else in connection with the deaths and were investigating whether the mother had been suffering from post-natal depression.

A post-mortem examination gave the woman's cause of death as compression of the neck, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.

Post-mortem examinations will be carried out on the two children on Tuesday, he added.

Neighbours described the family as ‘happy and smiling’ but said the second baby had increased the strain on the couple. Tashma Brown, 34, said: ‘There was always shouting and arguing, three or four times in a month sometimes. Most of the time when they argued he would come outside to cool down.’

She added that she heard Mrs Sakthivel getting upset the day before the killings about the baby crying in the house. ‘She was shouting but it was in her own language. She sounded upset,’ she said.

Another neighbour described the deaths as a terrible tragedy. ‘People cannot believe that those lovely little boys are dead,’ he said.

Another neighbour added: ‘She seemed like a good mother. She was on maternity leave from her job, but I don’t know what she did.

‘We were invited to their son’s fifth birthday party a couple of months ago and my mother commented on how clever the little boy was. He was a sweet boy.’

Mrs Mahadeva said she last saw the couple on Christmas Day, when the friends celebrated a birthday.

‘She was her usual self – she was happy and smiling,’ she said.

‘Just last Sunday she was on the phone with my sister-in-law discussing when she could start to feed the baby different foods – she seemed happy as ever.’

Mr Sakthivel, who was born in northern Sri Lanka, moved to the UK around ten years ago and studied at London’s South Bank University. He has spent the past three years running a firm called Vaasi Accountancy.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said Mrs Sakthivel and her sons were pronounced dead at the scene. Police are not seeking anyone else in connection with the incident.