Mother charged with manslaughter after two brothers, 4 and 2, left to die in sweltering car

The mother of two boys found dead in a car has been charged with ‘involuntary manslaughter’ after giving different versions of events to police as to how they got locked in.

The boys, aged 4 and 2, were found to have suffered heart attacks in sweltering 40C heat in Carpentras, south of France, on Monday afternoon.

Prosecutors initially reported the children had ‘allegedly locked themselves’ inside the vehicle without their mother’s knowledge.

But it has now emerged that the boys’ mother claimed to have ‘forgotten her children’ while shopping, French daily Le Parisien said, citing a police source. 

A source close to the investigation told AFP that the mother gave police several different versions of events.  

In her revised statement, the mother said the children got inside the car without her knowing, locked the doors behind them, and became trapped inside, without her knowledge.

Hélène Mourges, the Carpentras prosecutor, has opened a preliminary enquiry into the ‘unintentional manslaughter’.

‘She first claimed she had left them in the car upon returning from a shopping trip. 

‘Later, she stated that they had climbed back inside without her knowledge while she was unloading her groceries.’

Her original statement to police was that she had left the children to sleep in the back of the car, following a shopping trip.

According Le Dauphiné Libéré , the two children took advantage of their mother’s inattention to go outside and play.

They then climbed into the car parked in the driveway, before the doors closed, trapping them inside. ‘By the time the mother realised they were gone, it was already too late’, they reported.

Police and firefighters were called to the scene around 1.10pm, according to La Provence, but efforts to save the children were unsuccessful.

Europe, much like the UK, is enduring a record-breaking heatwave, with highs of more than 40C in parts of France.

Emergency services and the military have been put on a wildfire alert throughout the country.