Police probing how massacre father got gun
POLICE are investigating how a builder obtained a gun allegedly used to shoot his partner and young children dead, it emerged last night.
Robert Needham, 42, is thought to have killed Kelly Fitzgibbons, 40, and daughters Ava, four, and two-yearold Lexi before turning the gun on himself at their £500,000 rural West Sussex home.
The family’s Staffordshire bull terrier Bill was also killed.
Sussex Police are probing whether the gun used in the massacre was obtained illegally – or whether Mr Needham may have held a valid firearm or shotgun certificate. It is understood to be a key line of inquiry in the investigation.
The country surroundings of the family’s village of Woodmancote make it popular with grouse, pheasant and claypigeon shooters.
But local gun clubs had no knowledge of Mr Needham, while neighbours and friends of the family said they were not aware of guns on the property and did not know if Mr Needham went shooting.
Asked whether the gun was legally held, Sussex Police said: ‘This is an ongoing investigation and this will form part of that investigation.’
The massacre has stunned the village’s close-knit community, with locals commenting that keen angler Mr Needham had in recent weeks talked of ‘plans for the future’.
Just 48 hours before the tragedy, Miss Fitzgibbons posted a series of images online showing the family enjoying a lockdown walk in the sunshine.
There are fears self-employed Mr Needham was suffering financially as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, having recently bought a second home in nearby Waterlooville, Hampshire, which he was renovating.
He was also building an extension on the Woodmancote property, owned by his mother Maureen, 77, to ‘make it nice for her’. Mrs Needham lived in the downstairs part of the property, while the family lived upstairs, but she is thought to be selfisolating elsewhere.
Louise Paffey, a friend of Miss Fitzgibbons, said: ‘We didn’t know anything about guns. It was a surprise to me.
‘I was supposed to meet Kelly on Friday for lunch but we cancelled because of coronavirus. We regularly exchanged WhatsApp messages and there was no indication that there was anything untoward going on.’
The alarm is thought to have been raised on Sunday evening. Friend Ronald Peacock was asked to check on the family. When he failed to get an answer at the front door, he climbed through a window and discovered the bloodbath.
Sussex Police said: ‘The cause of death will not be released until at least all four post-mortems have been completed.’