Jordan Monaghan: Man jailed for murdering his children and partner

A murderer who smothered his own baby daughter and his toddler son before going on to poison a new partner has been jailed for a minimum of 40 years.

Jordan Monaghan killed 24-day-old Ruby at their Blackburn home in January 2013. Eight months later, he smothered 21-month-old Logan at a swimming pool.

The 30-year-old was on police bail six years later when he went on to poison his 23-year-old girlfriend, Evie Adams.

Monaghan was found guilty at Preston Crown Court on three counts of murder.

The construction worker smothered Ruby on New Year's Day in 2013 as she slept in a Moses basket. Ruby's mother Laura Gray, 28, was sleeping upstairs at the time.

Eight months later, Monaghan took his son Logan to Waves swimming pool in Blackburn and smothered him while they were alone in a changing room cubicle.

The court heard the day before Logan's death, Ms Gray had told Monaghan their relationship was over after discovering he owed thousands of pounds in gambling debts.

Sentencing Monaghan, Mr Justice Goose told him: "You are an exceptionally controlling, selfish and cruel man.

"The trigger to these offences were your volatile relationships.

"The consequences were the snuffing out of the lives of two very young children and a young woman."

The judge added: "[Ruby's] life had barely started and you extinguished it."

Lancashire Police said that after murdering his son, Monaghan posed for pictures and spoke to newspapers about the tragedy of losing two children.

After an inquest into Logan's death in August 2013, he told reporters: "It feels as if history is repeating itself.

"Everything has been taken away from us.

"We can't believe this has happened for a second time. We are just in shock and completely devastated."

The 10-week trial heard both Ruby and Logan suffered a "collapse" and were seen by medics in the months before their deaths, but no serious medical conditions were found.

Prosecutor Duncan Smith QC told the jury both infants recovered prior to a final fatal event, when Monaghan "unlawfully and deliberately" obstructed their breathing.

The court heard parts of Logan and Ruby's mother Ms Gray's victim impact statement, which said all she had ever wanted was to be a mum and to "give my children the love and opportunities I never had growing up".

She said: "When the children were born, they consumed my world.

"I loved every single day I had with them.

"Jordan was their daddy, he was one of the two people who was meant to love and protect them the most in the whole world.

"Instead, he did the opposite."

Ms Gray could be heard weeping in the public gallery as the verdicts were given.

A post-mortem examination concluded Ruby died from acute bronchopneumonia and Logan's cause of death remained "unascertained".

Neither child's death could be explained by illness, genetic defect or natural causes, and Monaghan was arrested in 2018 after police reviewed their deaths when further information came to light.

In October 2019, he was on bail for their murders when he killed Ms Adams with a deadly cocktail of prescription drugs, including tramadol and diazepam, which he had bought illegally on the black market.

The court heard Monaghan committed the murders because he could not face rejection by his partners.

Police had warned Ms Adams, who had suffered "chronic abuse" before being fostered aged 12, not to be with him and a court order was made banning contact.

However, the relationship continued and Monaghan killed her and then faked a suicide note after she threatened to end their relationship.

Jurors heard he had told her: "I won't keep putting up with you saying we are over."

The court was told Monaghan had staged the suicide note's "discovery" by having it fall out of a picture frame as he removed a photo of the couple to place in her coffin.

Monaghan was also convicted of two counts of attempted murder to a third child who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Due to a minor illness, he was not in court as the guilty verdicts were delivered following six days of deliberation by the jury.

Speakign afterwards, the Crown Prosecution Service's Martin Hill said Monaghan's cruelty was "beyond belief" and his ruthlessness was "harrowing".

"It is difficult to comprehend the depravity that went into planning and committing these murders," he said.

Det Ch Insp Pauline Stables added that Monaghan showed "no emotion" when he talked about the deaths of his two of his children, describing him as "very manipulative" and "cold-blooded".

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