A woman who told investigators she drowned her two children after receiving a sign from a spider was found not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered to be committed to a psychiatric hospital for an indeterminate period.

A WOMAN had her convictions for drowning her children one by one in a bathtub overturned yesterday after a court ruled that a psychiatrist gave false evidence at her trial.

Prosecutors seeking the death penalty for Texas housewife Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children, would face an uphill battle, legal experts said before today’s punishment phase of the trial.