Heartbreaking reason boys used mum's perfume – two weeks before dad killed them

A mum whose precious sons were burnt to death by their abusive dad has revealed the heartbreaking reason the boys doused themselves in her perfume two weeks before being murdered .

Claire Throssell lost her children, Jack, 12, and Paul, nine, when their father, Darren Sykes, lured them to the attic by pretending there was a new train set there. He then barricaded them inside and set fire to the family home.

Evil Sykes also died in the blaze, with the horrifying incident happening during a court-approved access visit in October 2014. Claire, from Penistone, South Yorkshire, had warned Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service) and Social Services that she believed her ex-husband was capable of killing Jack and Paul.

She said he had been violent and abusive to both her and the boys — which is a reason for why she separated from him. However, after Sykes filed for custody and brought the matter to the courts, he was awarded five hours of unsupervised access to the boys every week.

Then, on October 22, 2014, during one of the visits, Claire’s worst nightmare became a reality. And now, speaking on the Tom’s Talks Podcast , she revealed how she caught her sons dousing themselves in her perfume just two weeks before their brutal murders, and the reason why is deeply upsetting.

She said: “Just two weeks before what happened, happened, I caught them spraying themselves with my perfume and I had to bite my lip because my perfume’s expensive and I thought, ‘My bottle’s going down and I’m not wearing it. What is happening?’”

She spotted Jack and Paul spraying themselves with it after going upstairs.

The devastated mum remembered: “I had to bite my lip obviously and went, ‘Boys, what are you doing with my perfume? If you want aftershave, I’ll buy you aftershave.’

“And they went, ‘It’s not that, we are scared of dad and we are taking you with us. We want a part of you with us wherever you go. Where you are mum is home.’”

After a pause to gather her emotions, she added: “The only safety plan the police could come up with was buying them a mobile phone and if they felt scared, text me and I could go fetch them. They were nine and 12 years old…”

Sykes lit 14 different fires using petrol before barricading the house shut. Speaking to the Mirror last year, Claire said: “The last words Jack said, as the firefighters desperately tried to rescue him, was, ‘My dad did this and he did it on purpose’.”

Paul died that night while Jack clung to life for the next five days before severe burns and medical complications brought his suffering to a close.

Since then, Claire has campaigned for family law to change, and last October, the government announced plans to repeal the presumption that kids should have contact with both parents in relation to family court decisions.

Claire’s determination to see change has meant family courts are safer — and it is now mandatory for courts to establish whether children are at risk of harm from a contact order.