MADRID, Spain (AFP) -- A British woman held in Spain on suspicion of killing her two young children had tried to commit suicide immediately after her alleged crime, a Spanish newspaper said yesterday.

Police declined to comment on the report, on the website of the leading Spanish daily El Mundo.

Police detained Lianne Smith, 43, on Tuesday at the four-star Hotel Miramar on the beach at the coastal resort of Lloret del Mar after her five-year-old daughter and 11-month-old son were found dead in their hotel room.

Her arrest came on the same day that her husband and the father of at least one of the two children, 45-year-old Martin Smith, was extradited back to Britain from Spain to face charges of sexual offences with minors.

El Mundo, which did not indicate its sources, said Lianne Smith had attempted suicide before asking the hotel receptionist to call an ambulance.

"The woman left a (suicide) note explaining that she killed her children and took her life because she was afraid of losing custody of her children" after her husband's arrest on May 6.

It did not say how she had allegedly attempted suicide.

Police yesterday took her back to the flat in Barcelona where she had lived with her husband and children to search for clues.

She is to appear in court today, after the judge receives an autopsy report on the two children.

Spanish media said yesterday that the autopsies ruled out that the children had suffered any sexual abuse.

About 100 people also observed a minute's silence Thursday for the two children in front of the town hall in Lloret de Mar.