'We all wish she was dead': Children of woman who killed family of five in house blaze reveal years of abuse they suffered at their mother's hands

Three children of murderer Melanie Smith have revealed the torture they suffered at their mother's hands growing up.
Lisa, Charlotte and Jonathon have spoken for the first time about their mother who they describe as the most evil woman in Britain after she was convicted last week of burning five people to death.
They revealed how Smith burned them with cigarettes, poured boiling water over them and locked them in a tiny cupboard if they cried. She also chopped off their hair if they made 'too much noise'.
Their father Paul, now 51, fought Smith for custody of the children but lost. It was only when she abandoned them in voluntary foster care that he won them back and their ordeal ended. 

Devastated: Lisa and Charlotte, pictured with their father Paul, have spoken for the first about the abuse they suffered at the hands of their mother Melanie Smith

Jobless Smith was yesterday convicted by a 10-2 majority of five counts of murder, making her one of the most prolific murderesses in modern British history.

Smith set fire to a baby's pushchair because she was fed up with it being outside her front door.
But the blaze spread into a devastating inferno which ripped through the first-floor flat in Prestatyn, North Wales, last October.

Guilty: Melanie Smith has been convicted of killing her neighbours by setting fire to their home

It trapped and killed Lee-Anna Shiers, 20, her partner Liam Timbrell, 23, their baby son Charlie, 15 months, Miss Shiers’s nephew Bailey, four, and niece Skye, two.
Smith will be sentenced next month.
Her daughter Charlotte, now 23, told the Sunday Mirror: 'We all wish she was dead. Knowing that the evil woman who killed that poor family is our mother is almost impossible to bear. Dad rescued us from hell. He’s brought us all up without her but now she’s back in our lives in the most horrific way imaginable. She’s been dead to us since we were tiny. Now I just want her to rot in hell.'
Paul married Melanie in August 1987, two years after they met at Pontins near Prestatyn where she worked as a chamber maid.
She gave birth to their three children - Lisa, now 24, Charlotte, 23, and Jonathon, now 22, within the next four years but Paul said he immediately noticed she lacked any maternal instinct.
As she began to drink more and more, Paul began to notice marks on the children but Melanie always had an excuse.
The final straw came when he discovered her in bed with another man while their three children were locked in another room.

Blaze victims: Liam Timbrell, right, with Lee-Anna Shiers and their baby Charlie shortly after his birth

Tragic: Skye Allen, two, and her brother Bailey , four, who were killed in the fire in the first-floor flat in Prestatyn

Deaths: Ms Shiers, left, and her 15-month-old son Charlie were both killed following the blaze set by Smith

The couple divorced and Melanie won custody of the children but put them in care a day later because she couldn't cope.
Paul told the newspaper: 'When I picked the kids up from the foster home that day, I vowed that Melanie would never hurt them again. None of us ever saw or spoke to her again. She’s never sent one birthday or Christmas card and there’s never been a single letter.'
The next time Paul and his children saw Melanie was when her photo appeared on TV following her arrest over the blaze.
Paul added: 'Her cruelty has finally got her what she deserves. We just feel so sad for the victims and their families.'

Fire: The smoke-damaged property in Prestatyn after the blaze which killed five people last year

Innocent: Bailey and Skye were staying with their aunt, Ms Shiers, at the time of the killing

Relief: The children's parents celebrated after the guilty verdict was delivered

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