A 29-year-old man has appeared at court charged with murdering his two children, his partner and the attempted murder of another child.

Jordan Monaghan, of Belgrave Close, Blackburn, appeared in front of Judge Robert Altham at Preston Crown Court on Thursday morning, when a date was set for his trial.

Monaghan will stand trial at Preston Crown Court on October 4 this year, where proceedings are expected to take around 10 weeks. 

Monaghan has been charged with the murder of partner Evie Adams, two children, Logan and Ruby Monaghan, and two charges of attempted murder on a third child, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The first charge relates to the death of three-week-old Ruby Monaghan on January 1 2013, with the second charge relating to the death of 21-month-old Logan Monaghan just eight months later, on August 17 2013.

In addition, he faces two counts of attempting to murder a third child on September 27 and October 2, 2016, along with two offences of child cruelty in relation to that same child and on those dates. 

The 29-year-old was also charged with murdering Miss Adams, on October 24, 2019. She was not the mother of the children.

All of the alleged offences were committed at addresses in Blackburn.

The charges follow a complex and lengthy enquiry by Lancashire Constabulary’s Force Major Investigation Team (FMIT) and come after consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service.

Monaghan has been remanded into custody and will appear for a pre-trial preparation hearing on April 28, where he expected to enter not guilty pleas to all seven charges on the indictment.