LONDON (AFP) - A South African woman was charged on Thursday with murdering her three severely disabled children at their home in London, police said.

Tania Clarence, 42, was arrested after the bodies of a four-year-old girl and two three-year-old boys were found on Tuesday evening.

Neighbours said that Clarence, a graphic designer, and her husband Gary, who works at banking group Investec, had four children, three of whom were severely disabled.

Police identified the victims as three-year-old twins Ben and Max and four-year-old Olivia.

They reportedly suffered from an incurable genetic disorder called spinal muscular atrophy, which causes the muscles to waste away.

"Mrs Tania Clarence, 42, appears in custody at Wimbledon Magistrates' Court on Friday, 25 April, charged with three counts of murder," Scotland Yard said in a statement.

Post-mortem examinations began on Thursday on the bodies, who were found in the five-bedroomed family home in the south London suburb of New Malden, and have yet to be completed.