The Staffordshire mother who admitted killing her two children in a Spanish hotel room has been remanded in custody.

Lianne Smith, who went missing from her home in Lichfield in 2007, was transferred to a jail in Girona, Spain, after a judge ruled a case should be brought against her.

The bodies of daughter Rebecca, aged five, and 11-month-old son Daniel were found in a room at Hotel Miramar in Lloret de Mar on the Costa Brava on Tuesday.

It was around the same time their father Martin Smith, 45, originally of North Shields, was extradited to Britain to face child sex charges. Lianne Smith, aged 43, who confessed to the horrific killings in notes left at the crime scene, appeared in court in Blanes yesterday, where she was remanded in custody.

The court heard Smith, who is believed to have run a nursery in Barcelona, was worried the authorities would take her children away. She is said to have suffocated them.

A written statement was presented to the court from British consular staff requesting a meeting with Smith in order to arrange the repatriation of her children’s bodies.

A statement from the court read: “Smith spontaneously declared that she had killed her two children.” The court heard that she acted alone and any involvement by another person was ruled out.

The judge ruled that the investigation be conducted “in secret” owing to the public alarm sparked by the tragic incident.

Smith, who worked for Walsall education provider Serco in 2007, was seen being led away from court looking tired and drawn.

Martin Smith has appeared in court in Carlisle charged with 13 unrelated child sex offences, said to have been committed in the Cumbria area between 1995 and 2005.

The family had previously fled homes in Cumbria and then Lichfield in 2007.