Stuttgart  - A mother, 42, who drowned both her children by forcing their heads under water in the bath, was sentenced to life imprisonment Tuesday by a German court.

Judges in Stuttgart said the mother was sane when she killed the girl, 5, and boy, 4, on May 9 at her home in the town of Schorndorf. She and her estranged husband had been in dispute over custody of the children.

Her motive was a refusal to let her children develop affection for anyone but herself, judges said in the verdict.  dpa