A family walk in the sun... 48 hours later they were all dead
Police probe whether father shot his partner and children in murder-suicide
SCOOPED up by their parents and posing in the sunshine, sisters Ava, four, and, Lexi, two, look a picture of happiness.
But in a crime which has devastated their close-knit community, the angelic blonde girls and their mother were killed in what is thought to be a murder-suicide perpetrated by their father.
Builder Robert Needham, 42, described by one former neighbour as a ‘bully’, is believed to have shot his children, partner Kelly Fitzgibbons, 40, and even Bill, the Staffordshire bull terrier, before taking his own life at their home on Sunday evening. The family lived in a £500,000 property in the leafy village of Woodmancote, West Sussex, alongside Mr Needham’s mother Maureen, 77.
Yesterday Mrs Needham confirmed the tragedy – and hinted that she may have even been in the property at the time of the deaths.
In a now-deleted Facebook post to a friend, Mrs Needham said: ‘It was Robert, Kelly and my lovely grandchildren that all died upstairs.’
Miss Fitzgibbons had described herself on social media as ‘totally in love’ with ‘my baby girls’.
Her twin sister Emma Ambler had posted a picture of the siblings together on Facebook which was followed by dozens of people responding with images of love hearts in tribute. Her husband Thomas told the Daily Mail she was too upset to talk, adding: ‘We are devastated.’
Miss Fitzgibbons’ stepsister Cheryl Giles said: ‘Kelly was the sweetest, kindest, loveliest woman who lived for her girls.’
On Friday afternoon, Miss Fitzgibbons posted a number of images to Facebook of the family enjoying their daily exercise as part of the coronavirus lockdown, accompanied by the caption: ‘Our walk for the day.’ Ava and Lexi, wearing sunglasses and carrying Easter baskets, could be seen smiling and stroking their dog.
But at around 6.45pm on Sunday, police were called to the detached property following reports of a concern for welfare and found the bodies of the four family members and their pet. All were confirmed dead at the scene.
A Sussex Police spokesman said a murder investigation remains underway. Detectives are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. A source last night suggested the family were killed before Mr Needham shot himself, however post-mortem examinations have yet to take
‘Kindest woman who lived for her girls’
place. Poignant social media posts on Miss Fitzgibbons’ Facebook page show the family enjoying Christmas together last year and a holiday to Mallorca in 2018.
The family had moved to the large property to help care for Needham’s mother after his father Rex, who suffered with Parkinson’s disease, died in 2017. The builder, who operated Needham Building Services before it was dissolved last year, was in the process of building a granny flat so the parties could live separately.
Neighbour Douglas Meany said he had known Mrs Needham and her family for 40 years and often drove her to the doctor’s surgery. ‘As far as I know they were a fairly close-knit family, just normal, but not in each other’s pockets,’ he said. ‘For a while the house was used as a care home which the family ran. Previous to that Maureen and her husband used to run a village shop.
‘ We were naturally very surprised [when we heard what happened]. It would take a lot for somebody to do that but there was no evidence previously that there was a problem.
‘Robert was building an extension for the family to live in, but whilst he was building that he wasn’t getting an income from any other building work so it might have been that there were issues over finance or it might have been issues over people living together in confined conditions.’ Another neighbour described them as a ‘lovely family’.
However one former next- door neighbour of the couple said Mr Needham was a ‘ nasty piece of work’, who she would take care to avoid. ‘ Kelly was alright but he was a bully,’ she said.
‘He was rude, he let that dog out at all hours of the night. She was nice but I kept away from him.
‘He was ignorant and also made a lot of noise but he would complain to my landlord about me exercising in the house at tea time... I just didn’t want to get into a confrontation with him.’
Another local yesterday said Mrs Needham was a familiar presence around the village – which is home to a pub and church – and would regularly attend the weekly coffee morning.
‘This is a very close-knit community,’ he said. ‘ Nothing ever happens here, especially no crime.’
But he added: ‘Locking everyone up together there are always going to be problems.’
Yesterday a large cordon remained in place around the property in Woodmancote.