Seized, fugitive Briton who ‘slit the throats of wife and her mum’
A BRITISH fugitive wanted on suspicion of butchering his wife and mother-in-law at their California home was captured by police yesterday.
Dave McCann, 49, was found sleeping in a camp for the homeless after disguising himself as a downand-out during four days on the run.
Police launched a manhunt for the property developer after his wife Tierney Cooper-McCann, 36, and her mother Judith Cooper, 68, were found with their throats slit at the family home near Fresno.
His sister-in-law, Cortney Rider, told how she fled for her life after McCann smashed down the front door of the property on Saturday morning before attacking his estranged wife.
Ms Rider said Mrs Cooper-McCann, who worked with children at a hospital burns centre, had recently filed for divorce. The couple, who had no children, are thought to have been married for 14 years.
After his arrest McCann was pictured in handcuffs wearing a T-shirt with “Run in the name of love” on the front.
Fled
Ms Rider told police that the day before the killings McCann, whose business was in difficulty and who had been staying at a friend’s house, visited the family home to collect belongings. She woke next morning to find him breaking down the door.
She said McCann attacked her sister, slitting her throat as she tried to raise the alarm.
“He looked at me and said, ‘You’re next’. I immediately ran next door. My mum locked herself in a bedroom but he broke down the door. After not being able to catch me he went back to the house and slit my mum’s throat in the back bedroom.”
Ms Rider said that despite being fatally wounded, her sister went to their mother’s aid after McCann left. She said: “She was able to walk back to the bedroom and lay with my mum and they both died together.”
McCann, originally from Sheffield, fled in a removal van he had hired. Lying low, he dumped his mobile phone and avoided taking money out of cash machines.
Police had feared he was heading back to Britain. But after a tip-off he was found living in the makeshift camp 150 miles away near Monterey.
It later emerged he had used a bicycle and hitch-hiked around the Big Sur area before reaching the remote spot.