Partner to die in jail for murdering EastEnders actress and two young sons

The partner of former EastEnders actress Sian Blake has been told he will spend the rest of his life behind bars for murdering her and their two young children.

Arthur Simpson-Kent killed Ms Blake, 43, and their sons, Zachary, eight, and four-year-old Amon, after the actress, who was terminally ill with motor neurone disease, planned to leave him and take the boys with her.

All three were hit on the head before being stabbed in the neck or throat by Simpson-Kent, who painted over bloodstains in their bungalow in Erith, south-east London, before fleeing to his native Ghana.

Mr Justice Singh, sentencing Simpson-Kent at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, ordered that the 49-year-old should serve a "whole life" prison term for his barbaric crimes on the night of December 14/15 last year.

The court had previously heard that Ms Blake's condition meant she would have been physically incapable of defending herself from a violent attack.

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