Jenna was searching for her missing children when Robert sent a devastating message…
‘Ready to be wined and dined?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, I’ll just go grab my bag,’ I smiled.
I loved how romantic he was.
We’d met through friends and clicked instantly, despite the age gap. I was 26 and he was 40.
Robert had already been married and had children.
Seeing how much
of a doting dad he was made me love him more.
Two months in, we realised we were in love and became inseparable.
Even when I wanted to party with my friends, Robert would happily come along.
I’d never met a man so kind, caring and affectionate before.
I’m so lucky, I thought.
Three years later, we got married.
And within months, I found out I was pregnant.
We were so happy.
But when I was seven months along, we sadly lost our baby.
We both became depressed and started arguing. Robert becoming more controlling, wanting
to know where I was at all times.
It felt like our relationship was at breaking point.
But a year later, we were given a lifeline.
‘I’m pregnant,’ I told Robert.
‘Really?’ he smiled. ‘That’s
great news.’
We went for an early scan at seven weeks. And as the sonographer ran the Doppler over my belly, she smiled.
‘You’re having twins,’ she said.
‘Oh my goodness,’ I exclaimed.
Robert smiled and squeezed my hand.
Soon, we found out we were having girls, and we named them Hailey and Aubrey.
‘I can’t wait to meet them,’ Robert said, touching my bump.
He was the best husband I could have asked for, coming to every scan with me.
Nine months later, when our girls came into the world, we felt complete.
Life was busy with two newborns, but we were happy.
When the girls turned two, I felt ready to go back to work.
Robert helped me get a job at a local bar, and took care of our little ones while I was working.
But every time I left for a shift, his controlling behaviour would start again.
One night, I got home to find that Robert had locked me out.
‘You stink of booze, you can’t be around the kids,’ he said when he finally opened the door.
‘Of course I do, I work in a bar!’ I exclaimed. ‘But I haven’t drunk anything.’
That night, I was forced to stay at a neighbour’s house.
I was distraught because I’d never been away from
my children.
The next day, I
got a restraining order against Robert, and got
full custody of
the girls.
I was relieved.
'You can't be around the kids'
But soon, Robert started coming to the house without the social worker knowing.
He wasn’t supposed to
have unsupervised visits, but because he looked so upset,
I let him in.
One night, he came round when I had a friend over.
He played with Hailey and Aubrey for a while.
After we put them to bed, I was ready to hit the hay myself. But Robert refused to leave.
‘Whatever, I’m going to
sleep,’ I huffed.
I got into bed, but the next thing I knew, Robert was pulling me off the mattress by my legs.
As I screamed, he shoved a blanket into my mouth.
He pinned me down and stared daggers at me.
Panic raced through me,
and I kicked and flailed as hard as I could.
Eventually I got him off and ran to grab the kids.
‘He’s trying to kill me!’ I cried to my friend who was staying over.
Then Robert tried to wrench the girls from my arms.
Suddenly, police were at the door and Robert was taken into custody. I was in shock, because he’d never been physically violent before.
While I was still reeling, social services came to take the girls into care.
‘Please, no, I beg you,’ I cried.
We came to the agreement that I would give temporary custody to my mum.
With help of family members,
I secured a place for her and the girls to live in secret, to make sure Robert wouldn’t find them when he got out.
But being without them broke my heart.
Then I went into hiding at a friend’s. I was terrified Robert would find me and kill me.
When he was released, he was still allowed supervised visits once a week with the girls.
They were held at the social services office, because it was a neutral place.
But I was told he rarely showed up
to the visits, so
they agreed to start doing them at his parents’
house instead.
I couldn’t believe he was still allowed to see them.
Then I was told that social services had agreed to let Robert have a supervised visit while the girls stayed the weekend at his parents’ house.
It meant he’d get longer with them, because he wouldn’t have to leave until 11pm.
‘That’s a terrible idea,’ I told the social worker. ‘Something bad is going to happen.’
But my concerns were just brushed aside.
That weekend, I was at my mum’s flat when Robert’s parents came to take them.
Aubrey was crying and clinging to my neck.
Being forced to hand the girls over was gut-wrenching.
‘I love you,’ I told them tearfully.
When I was home later, Robert called me.
‘Aubrey won’t stop crying and it’s making her vomit,’ he said.
‘OK, let me talk to her,’ I replied.
When he put her on the phone, I managed to calm
her down.
'Something bad is going to happen'
Then Robert texted to say he’d got her to sleep.
When I finally got to bed, it was midnight.
But at 2am, I was woken by the sound of Aubrey screaming.
I knew it must’ve been in a dream. After all, she was miles away – but I was shaken.
Something’s wrong, I thought.
I tried ringing Robert, but there was no answer.
My instinct told me to go to my daughters, so I rushed over to Robert’s parents’ house.
When I got there, I noticed only one light was on.
It was in the girls’ bedroom.
That’s weird, they should be asleep, I thought.
I decided to drive past Robert’s home to see if anything looked odd.
When I got there, I noticed his car was gone.
Where could he have gone at this time of night? I thought.
I had a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Then Robert sent me a photo.
It showed the twins in the front seat of his vehicle with no seatbelts on.
When I read the message with it, my blood ran cold.
Say goodbye to them because they’re going to heaven tonight,
it read.
‘No!’ I cried.
Putting my car into gear, I sped off back to his parents’.
When they let me in, I found the girls’ beds were empty.
Robert had taken them while they were asleep.
I let out an almighty scream.
‘He’s going to kill them!’ I shouted.
Robert kept sending more threatening texts.
The girls are going to heaven and I’m going to hell to wait for you, read one.
As I got back in my car, I had a brainwave.
He’s taking them to the bridge, I thought.
It was a well-known suicide spot nearby.
My heart was racing as I called my next-door neighbour for help.
She followed me in her car as we sped down the motorway.
On the way, I called the police.
‘My ex has kidnapped my children!’ I screamed. ‘He’s going to kill them!’
Suddenly, Robert was calling me. So I hung up on the police and answered him.
‘I’ll give you full custody, anything you want’ I pleaded, ‘Just please don’t harm them.’
But he simply turned the camera to face the girls. They were visibly upset.
‘Mummy!’ they cried.
‘Kids, say goodbye to Mummy,’ Robert snarled, before hanging up.
It felt like my heart had been ripped out of
my chest.
I quickly called the police back but, too distraught to drive, I pulled over.
When I got out the car,
I fell to my knees.
‘Please, we need to find them,’ I sobbed to the
call handler.
Suddenly, a
police car pulled up beside me.
‘Please come with us, we need to ask you some questions,’ an officer said to me.
All I wanted to do was find my kids, but the officer insisted I go with him.
My neighbour followed behind.
Every second that ticked by felt like precious time we were wasting.
Then, my phone was being bombarded with texts from friends who told me that Robert had posted his sick plan on Facebook.
Tonight, I’m sending my babies to heaven, he’d written.
Soon, we pulled up to a children’s hospital.
‘Why are we here?’ I asked.
‘They’re here,’ the officer replied.
I didn’t understand what he meant, but then my neighbour came up to me.
‘There’s been an accident,’ she told me.
She guided me to the waiting area and as we walked in, there were around 30 police officers.
Then I heard Hailey and Aubrey screaming from another room.
‘What’s happened to my babies? I asked staff, desperate. ‘Can I see them?’
But because
social services were involved, I wasn’t allowed.
I begged and begged, but it was
no use.
When Mum arrived, thankfully she was allowed to see them.
Suddenly, Robert’s ex was ringing me.
‘It’s all on the news,’ she said.
‘What’s on the news?’ I asked.
‘He drove them off
a cliff,’ she replied.
I was stunned.
Just then, Mum came rushing back in.
‘Hailey has a bleed on the brain and she’s in a neck brace,’ she said. ‘Aubrey has lacerations to her spleen.’
I fell to my knees, crying and screaming.
That monster, I thought.
Soon, I was told Robert had spent two hours in hospital and was now in police custody.
After six hours, I was finally allowed to see
the girls.
Seeing them covered in bandages, cuts
and bruises was heartbreaking.
I stroked their heads, trying to comfort them.
‘It’s OK, Mummy’s here,’ I soothed.
'Just please don't harm them'
Although Hailey had a bad concussion, thankfully the bleed on her brain stopped and she didn’t require surgery.
But she needed physical therapy to learn to walk
again.
It took four days until she could stand up, and she was in a lot of pain.
Ten days later, the girls were discharged.
I couldn’t believe they had survived the 30ft cliff drop. They were miracles.
I soon found out that Robert had them on his lap when he drove off
the edge.
When police got to the scene, one heroic officer tied dog leads together
to make a rope.
He used it to abseil down the cliff to save
the girls.
When he reached them, Aubrey was clinging on to Robert’s neck, crying.
But Hailey was limp and it was feared she’d died.
A few months later, I put them in trauma therapy.
Robert was charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, child abuse, domestic violence, and burglary, in relation to breaking into his parents’
house to take them.
Slowly but surely, the girls started getting back to normal.
I tried my hardest to pick up the pieces after all the damage Robert had done.
I hated him.
How could he have tried to kill his own two-year-old daughters?
He was so far from the man
I fell in love with.
Four years later, the case was about to go to trial when I was given some news.
Robert had changed his plea to guilty.
I felt vindicated, and went to the sentencing hearing to read my victim-impact statement.
Seeing him across the room made me shake in fear.
But I looked straight at him as
I read it, my hands trembling.
‘Through all this dark, I have found light at the end of the tunnel,’ I told him. ‘You don’t control us any more.’
Robert Brians, 51, was sentenced to 31 years in prison.
The girls are six now, and they’ve come to understand
what their dad did.
Sometimes they ask to visit him, but I’ve told them they have to wait until they’re adults to decide that.
I’m beyond grateful that they survived without lifelong injuries and are still happy children.
They’re such strong, brave girls, and I feel blessed to be their mother.
Jenna Brians, 37