An evil mother caught on camera buying a Snickers bar as a last snack for her two young children before brutally murdering them has been jailed for 19 years.
Instagram cosmetics queen Elena Karimova, 27, suffocated her daughter, Khadizha, four, and son Suleiman, two, in the back seat of her rented Kia Rio.
Minutes earlier the glamorous Russian divorcee was seen by CCTV at a filling station buying the chocolate bar for her children to share – and barbecue lighter fuel which she later used to incinerate their bodies.
Two passing hunters saw her burning what they believed were dolls.
Chilling CCTV footage showed the mother-of-two buying a chocolate bar and lighter fuel on the day of the murders
Elena Karimova, 27, wiped away a tear as she claimed she was innocent at the court in Nizhny Novgorod on the banks of the Volga
Elena Karimova takes selfies with son Suleiman (left) and daughter Khadizha (right)
They believed the ‘strange woman’ was a ‘witch or psychic’, said the judge in her murder trial.
Karimova who had 27,000 subscribers for her online sales business, initially confessed to murdering her children.
Later she claimed two mystery men from Azerbaijan had killed them because she would not reveal to them the location of her ex-husband.
The court in Nizhny Novgorod dismissed her account as fantasy and she was jailed for 19 years as a cold-blooded killer.
The mother was seen acting normally as she paid in advance for petrol plus the Snickers bar and barbecue lighter fuel.
She then walked back to her hired car – inside which were her two ‘beloved’ children – and drove away towards woodland where she strangled the pair as they sat on her knee on the back seat of her £23-a-day rental car.
Judge Alexey Zavarikhin told the court: ‘Karimova covered her daughter’s mouth with her hand. She suffocated her daughter until she stopped twitching and resisting.
‘The son at that time was sitting and watching how she killed his sister.’
After the murders, ‘she searched for a place where she could burn the bodies’.
Judge Alexey Zavarikhin told the court in Nizhny Novgorod, western Russia: ‘She suffocated her daughter until she stopped twitching and resisting’
After she murdered them, she took the bodies into woodland and used the lighter fuel to incinerate them
The woman claimed she had trouble raising Khadizha and Suleiman (pictured) because of a divorce
The hunters Alexander Voronnikov and Roman Melnikov who saw her make a fire – and mistook her for a witch – denied there were any men with her, said the judge.
‘We thought that there dolls in the fire,’ said Voronnikov. ‘When we passed, the woman tried to hide her face.’
The judge said that footprints in the snow and CCTV footage showed clearly that Karimova was alone with her children in her rental car and when she burned the bodies.
Fearing the hunters suspected her, she loaded the charred corpses into her car and drove home.
Next day she drove to an abandoned warehouse where she dumped the bodies and set the building on fire almost completely destroying the human remains.
The murderer read out a prepared statement during the sentencing hearing in which she continued her wild claims that two Azerbaijanis had killed the children
Karimova stands in the dock as she listens to the judge condemning her to 19 years in prison for the double murder
Karimova who had 27,000 followers for her Instagram cosmetics business was detained on murder charges nine months ago
When detained by police she initially confessed to the murders saying: ‘I couldn’t provide for my children.’
In her first court appearance she said: ‘I’m very sorry for what happened. I do not even know how I could go about this.’
The divorcee had thousands of Instagram followers but claimed money problems
Despite her financial problems, she spent £470 a month on car rentals and took foreign holidays.
Shocked family members and friends said her action was ‘totally out of character’ and refused to believe she was capable of such barbarity.
Her mother Natalia Testenkova said she was ‘the most loving mum’ adding: ‘How could she kill her kids?’
She underwent psychiatric tests and was found to be sane, say law enforcement officials.
In her final address to the court before being sent to jail, Karimova said: ‘I am accused of the most inhuman crime a woman can commit – the cruel murder of my children.’
She stuck to her claim that she let ‘the real killers escape and took the blame myself.’
She told the court: ‘Throughout April, when I was intimidated, threatened with murder, I thought that they were just scaring me to make me tell them where my ex-husband was.’
If she had her time again, she would have called for help, she said.
After she was seen buying Snickers at the filling station ‘they killed my babies in front of my eyes’.
Karimova would spend lavishly on foreign holidays and spent £470-a-month on car rental payments (pictured, her daughter Khadizha)
She pleaded: ‘If I could only return there, I would find a way to escape and hide from them and save my children.
‘I would not keep silent about the death of my kids in front of my eyes.’
Two weeks before the double murder the mother wrote on her daughter’s fourth birthday card: ‘You are my soul, my dearest little one, my long-awaited daughter….
‘The one I live for. You are a copy of me.’
Prosecutors had called for a 21 year sentence but the judge said she would be jailed until the year 2038.