THE PARTNER of Walthamstow actress Sian Blake could face life imprisonment for murdering her and their two children.

The sentencing of Arthur Simpson-Kent, 49, starts this morning at the Old Bailey.

Simpson-Kent pleaded guilty to killing his 43-year-old girlfriend and their sons Zachary, eight, and four-year-old Amon between December 12 last year and January 3.

The bodies of Ms Blake, 43, and their sons, Zachary Kent-Blake, 8, and Amon Kent-Blake, 4, were found by police at the family’s home on January 5.

The former Eastenders star and her children were last seen on December 13 last year, when they visited her family in Leyton.

On the afternoon of December 14, she made a telephone call to an acquaintance. This was the last time Ms Blake was known to be alive.

It is believed Simpson-Kent committed the murders between December 13 and December 16.

On December 16, Ms Blake's sister received a text from her telephone stating she and the children needed to get away for a while.

Detectives believe this text was sent by Simpson-Kent and that he had already murdered his family.

The same day, prompted by concerns reported to the NSPCC, police visited the family’s home and spoke to Arthur Simpson-Kent, who was uncooperative.

On January 3, detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Command (HMCC) took over the missing persons' investigation.

The house was forensically examined and a search of the garden using police dogs, specially deployed to find human remains, began.

Excavations of the garden took place and the bodies of Sian, Zachery and Amon were discovered.

A significant effort had been taken to conceal them. Post-mortem examinations found the cause of their deaths to be head and neck injuries.

A manhunt was launched to arrest Arthur Simpson-Kent, who it was established had left the home address on December 16, shortly after officers had spoken to him.

He travelled to Accra Airport in Ghana, from Glasgow Airport via Amsterdam, on December 18, after spending the night with a friend in Camden and withdrawing £700 from Sian's bank account.

Detectives from the HMCC travelled to Ghana and Simpson-Kent was subsequently arrested on the January 9 and extradited to the UK on February 12, where he was charged with the murders.

CI Graeme Gwyn, of the HMCC, said: "Arthur Simpson-Kent has never given a reason as to why he killed Sian, Zachary and Amon in the way that he did.

"Sian's close-knit family are devastated by the loss of their much loved sister, daughter and cousin.

“The deaths of Zachary and Amon have compounded their grief and they have lost two entire generations of their family to a violent and completely senseless act of murder at the hands of Simpson-Kent."

Ms Blake and her two murdered children were laid to rest on April 22 - 108 days after their bodies were found in shallow graves - at St Mary's Church in Walthamstow.

The sentencing at the Old Bailey is scheduled to go on for up to three days.