- Paranoid mother gave children electronic tags and mobile phones fearing husband would 'snatch' them
- She attempted suicide leaping from second floor balcony
- Defence barrister says 'most tragic case' he's seen in 35 years
Killer: Theresa Riggi, 47, who admitted killing her three children, is driven away from the High Court in Edinburgh today
A mother today admitted stabbing her three young children to death while locked in a custody battle with her estranged husband.
Theresa Riggi told a court that she knifed her eight-year-old twin sons Augustino and Gianluca and five-year-old daughter Cecilia in their home.
The little victims, who were forced by their paranoid mother to wear electronic tags when they visited their father and were given mobile phones as she feared he would take them away, were found lying side by side in a bedroom after a gas explosion at an Edinburgh town house. She denied causing the blast.
Moments after the blast U.S. citizen Riggi, 47, leapt from a second floor balcony as she tried to commit suicide.
Shortly before the fatal attacks Riggi had repeatedly asked her husband Pasquale, an oil industry engineer, if he was going to take the children away from her.
Advocate depute Alex Prentice QC said: 'On being told that "she had left him no choice" she said "say goodbye then" and hung up.'
Riggi told a hospital chaplain after the killings: 'I want to be with my babies. I'm not meant to be here. I'm meant to be with my babies.'
The defendant, who is currently in Cornton Vale women's prison in Stirling, was originally charged with murdering the children between August 2 and 4 last year Edinburgh's High Court heard.
But the Crown today accepted her guilty pleas to culpable homicide on the basis of diminished responsibility.
Each of the children had been killed with separate knives.
Now scroll down to see the video report
Mother Theresa Riggi with eight-year-old twins Austin and Luke and their five-year-old sister Cecilia
Riggi denied a further charge of causing a gas explosion by culpably and recklessly removing a gas hob from its fixtures.
Her defence counsel Donald Findlay QC said: 'Theresa Riggi is not evil, she is not wicked, she is not a monster. If it is possible to love ones children too much she loved them too much. They were a part of her. She was a part of them.
'She believed the children and she were safer together in death then they ever could be in life.
'This is without doubt the most tragic and difficult case that I have ever had to deal with in over 35 years in these courts.
'It wasn't the children who were to die that day. It was all four of them who were to die that day,' he said.
He said Riggi had been found by psychiatrists who examined her to have narcissistic, paranoid and histrionic personality disorders.
'At the time of the deaths of the children she was suffering from or in the midst of an acute stress reaction,' he added.
Riggi, who wanted to be a professional singer or violinist before a teenage accident prevented it, appeared in the dock wearing a white suit and clutching a hankie.
She sobbed at times as the harrowing details of her crimes were revealed.
Grief: Pasquale Riggi, the father of the three children stabbed to death by their mother Theresa Riggi outside the High Court in Edinburgh
Dead: (From left to right) Luke - or Gianluca, eight, Cecilia, five, and Austin - or Augustino, also eight, were all stabbed by their mother
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WHITE SUIT?
Theresa Riggi appeared in court today wearing the exact same white suit she had worn to two previous hearings.
Mrs Riggi was seen being led away in handcuffs from Edinburgh's High Court in the black-trim two-piece cream suit on February 5, above.
In September last year she arrived at Edinburgh Sheriff Court straight from hospital - with her left arm and leg in plaster, and walking with the aid of a crutch - wearing the same smart outfit.
A photo of the mother wearing the tailored suit at a function alongside her twins sons and daughter has also been released, prompting some to ask whether the outfit reminds her of happier times spent with her three young children.
She married her husband on September 1989 and at first they lived in California before moving to Colorado and then to England in 1997.
The twins were born as a result of IVF treatment and other embryos were cryogenically frozen.
Mr Prentice said: 'After their birth the accused was very possessive with the twins and would accept no help or visits.
'She insisted on sleeping with the babies in her bed and would not allow Mr Riggi to sleep in the same bed with them and insisted he moved into another bedroom.'
'Eventually the babies moved into the nursery and were followed by the accused who slept in that room with them. It was at this time that the physical side to their marriage ended,' said the prosecutor.
Despite this he was still committed to the marriage and their daughter was born. The family moved to the Netherlands but returned to England.
They eventually separated in the autumn of 2006.
Mr Riggi continued to generously support his wife and children, the court heard. He met another woman, Michelle Ross, in January the following year.
During last year when Mr Riggi was allowed to have unsupervised time with the children they wore locators - tags - controlled by their mother and were given a mobile phone pre-programmed to call her.
'She had told them that this was for their safety and they were encouraged by her to call her at any time if their father said or did anything they did not like,' said Mr Prentice.
Because of the volatility of the relationship between then and as a result of her restrictions on his time with them Mr Riggi raised court proceedings to get unsupervised access to his children.
The couple had also disagreed on her educating the children at home.
He had made inquiries about them going to the International School in Aberdeen but she insisted on home schooling claiming it would keep them safe and stop bullying.
After the children failed to attend a meeting with their father he reported them missing to the police on July 12.
Police later contacted her at her house. The mother was crying but one officers thought she was being melodramatic.
Family: Theresa Riggi, centre, with her twin boys Augustino and Gianluca Riggi, eight, and daughter Cecilia, five
Explosion: A blast tore through the flat in Edinburgh after mother Theresa Riggi had stabbed to death her three children
On the evening of a scheduled court hearing over access she had a final phone conversation with her husband in which she said 'Say goodbye then'.
Two days later on August 2 the children were killed and the mother tried to jump to her death.
A neighbour, Jordan Cochrane, shouted on Riggi not to jump but she intentionally plunged head first, the court heard. He tried to catch her and pushed her onto the bonnet of a car to break her fall.
The court heard that the gas leak in the properties was later traced to the hob in the kitchen of the house where Riggi was staying which had been tampered with.
Pathologists established that all three children died from stab wounds to the chest.
The judge Lord Bracadale said the case will call again on April 26 at the High Court in Glasgow when sentence is expected to be passed.
Tragic: Mrs Riggi's three young children, who were all killed
Rest in peace: A message of sympathy left near the scene following the explosion in Edinburgh last August
A statement issued by Victim Support Scotland on behalf of Mr Riggi, said: 'The loss of my three beautiful children has been an overwhelming tragedy.
'Nothing can be said at this or any other time which can mitigate what has happened. I and my extended family loved Austin, Luke and Cecilia dearly and they will live in our minds and hearts forever.
'I don't know what lies ahead but wherever life takes me, my friends and family, it will be with the memory of a dreadful loss and with gratitude for all the good times spent with Austin, Luke and Cecilia.
'My family and I wish to thank all those who provided and continue to provide tremendous support.
'My intention now is to move on, which will not be an easy task.
'I request that, after today, the media give me and my family the privacy to do so.'
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