A woman who stabbed her eight-week-old baby son to death has been told she must serve at least 20 years in prison for the murder.
The 31-year-old woman was also given a concurrent sentence at Belfast Crown Court for the attempted murder of her two-year-old daughter.
The defendant, who cannot be named due to reporting restrictions, wept in the dock as the sentence was delivered by Judge Donna McColgan KC.
The mother stabbed her children in their Belfast home on the evening of 27 July 2021, and whilst her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter survived the knife attack, her eight-week-old son died.
She had accepted she stabbed the children but denied the charges.
She was convicted of murder and attempted murder in March.
Speaking after the sentencing, PSNI Detective Inspector Gina Quinn said it had been a "totally distressing case".
She said: "Police, who were called to a house in Belfast that evening, found the woman with her two injured children.
"The baby boy, who was just eight weeks old, had sustained two stab wounds to his chest.
"Paramedics transferred the little one to hospital but, tragically, he was pronounced dead later that evening.
"The young girl had also been stabbed in the chest. She was transferred to hospital and survived, thanks to emergency, life-saving surgery.
"Both children had been stabbed by their mother, a parent who should, of course, have been loving, caring and protecting."
DI Quinn said that a "tiny and innocent life was taken in senseless and tragic circumstances".
She added: "The family have had their whole world turned upside down. They have lost an opportunity to see one of the children grow up, while the surviving child has lost her brother.
"There is nothing I can do or say that will undo this loss or begin to ease their pain.
"My thoughts, and that of the investigation team, are with the surviving child, the family and the wider community who have all been affected."
In a statement, the children's father said: "Words cannot describe what my family and I have been through.
"We never got to see my son grow up, but will never forget him."
