A MILLIONAIRE in severe financial difficulties told friends of his suicidal intent and fears his wife and daughter would not cope if forced to downgrade their lifestyles, an inquest heard yesterday.
At Shrewsbury magistrates court in northern England, the inquest into the deaths of Christopher Foster (50), his wife Jill (49) and daughter Kirstie (15) was told that he became troubled by his business difficulties. Police believe Mr Foster shot his wife and teenage daughter at their £1.2 million (€1.3 million) mansion in Maesbrook, Shropshire, before setting fire to the property and taking his own life last August.
In the months before his death, Mr Foster told a friend the liquidators “would not get his stuff” and “they would have to carry me out of the house in a box”. The inquest heard he had assets of £3.1 million but debts of £4.4 million.
The hearing was told that his body was found in the rubble of the mansion lying on top of his wife’s body. His daughter’s body was nearby. Three horses and four dogs were found shot dead. Police recovered the charred remains of a .22 rifle from the house.
Pathologist Alexander Kolar said Ms Foster and her daughter had gunshot wounds to the back of their heads. Mr Foster died of smoke inhalation and, crucially, had no gunshot injury.
Mark Bassett, a business associate who knew Mr Foster for 16 years, said his company encountered difficulties and went into receivership in 1997.
Mr Foster immediately formed a new company that went from strength to strength for a decade before going into administration.
After a court hearing in Birmingham in October 2007, Mr Bassett said Mr Foster told him his wife and daughter had “become accustomed to a certain standard of life and quality of life”. “It was his opinion they would not be able to cope if they needed to take a few backward steps,” he said.
Mr Foster told him: “Jesus, they are not having my stuff. I would top myself before that. They will carry me out of the house in a box.”
Peter Grkinic, a director of Foster's former company, Ulva, said he knew it was only a matter of time before Mr Foster was made bankrupt. "I think he would have been vindictive enough or antiliquidator enough to have taken the view that if, I can't have it, they are not going to have it either." – ( Guardianservice)