College lecturer Claudia Oakes-Green went on shopping trips to buy knives in the week before she killed Thomas, 13, and Eleanor, nine, while their father was abroad, Daily Mail reported.

The inquest was Tuesday told the church-going mother had become depressed in the weeks leading up to the deaths and had told friends and relatives she was worried about being made redundant from the sixth-form college where she worked.

Oakes-Green is believed to have killed the children and taken her own life shortly after taking delivery of a pizza from a local takeaway at 10 p.m. Feb 22 this year.

The children's bodies were discovered in separate bedrooms by police who forced their way into the family's detached Victorian home in Shepshed, Leicestershire.

At the time of the tragedy, her husband, Iain, 47, a wind energy specialist, was working in Scandinavia with Campbell Scientific, a US company which develops instruments to measure the weather.

The firm has its European headquarters in Shepshed, where Oakes-Green was based. The bereaved father attended Tuesday's hearing in Loughborough.