“When men are very much in that mode of feeling...their life has been successful...if something threatens to remove all that...then for some men that loss of power and control will lead to them expressing themselves in this extreme form of violence...it’s perverse but it seems to be a way of regaining some control...it’s like saying if I can’t have all of this, if I can’t have my beloved wife and child and if I can’t have my business and my beautiful home then no one else is going to have them.”

Dr Marilyn Gregor, Researcher of suicide after homicide

It was a Bank Holiday Monday on 25 August 2008 that the Foster family enjoyed their last day together.

Christopher Foster, his wife Jill and daughter Kirstie attended the gated mansion of John Hughes. Hughes, a millionaire luxury car dealer, was having a barbecue and clay pigeon shoot. Christopher spent the afternoon doing exactly that. Later, he said to Jill:

“I’ve had enough. I want to go home.”Despite Jill wanting to stay, they returned in her black Range Rover. Jill went to bed first. After midnight, his daughter Kirstie chatted to a friend online. That ended when Christopher turned the internet off. Soon after, Kirstie went to sleep.Her father then fitted a silencer to a .22 rifle.

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FAMILY ANNILHATOR

It is likely that Christopher Foster shot his wife of 21 years first. As the only other adult, she would have posed the greatest threat to Foster’s plan. He shot her in the back of her head in her bedroom.Foster then crossed the hallway to his daughter’s bedroom.He also shot his daughter in the back of the head. It was as if he was too ashamed to look them in the face.

FIRESTARTER

Foster then calmly set about destroying everything that could be burnt.

The man who had made a fortune out of preventing fires, now created one that would obliterate all traces of his existence.

It is estimated that he flooded his mansion with 200 gallons of oil. He spread the accelerant and oil soaked rags throughout the house to ensure the fire took hold.

At 3:09AM, CCTV footage showed Mr Foster set fire to his luxury home.

He then killed all the family animals. He shot dead the dogs and the horses. As with his family, he shot all the animals in the head.He also jammed the horsebox against the entrance gate and shot out the tyres. He takes out the keys. Both measures were to prevent anyone driving in and intervening.

He then returned home. As the flames burnt through his house, he climbed the stairs one last time. He lay down next to the wife he’d shot.He brought a loaded gun with him. But he did not shoot himself. Nor did the flames burn him alive. Instead, smoke inhalation kills him.

999 Neighbours rang the emergency services. The first fire crew arrived at 4.29AM. But they first have to move the horsebox out of the way. By the time they can get close enough, there is little they can do but contain the scene. The heat from the flames was so intense that all emergency services are unable to attempt entering.

For the police, it was equally frustrating. Vital evidence was being destroyed before the investigators very eyes.“It was like a clay oven turning everything to ash.”

Jon Groves, Detective Superintendent

But first attendees did notice gun cartridges around the grounds.Four days later, the ruins were still smouldering. Finally, on the Friday, despite the risk of falling debris, investigators entered. Two burnt bodies are found together, ‘top to tail’. Forensic tents are erected for examinations.

It is later concluded that they’d died on the same bed and it had collapsed three floors down to the ground floor fireplace. On the Sunday, dental records identified one of the bodies as Jill Foster.

On the Monday, Kirstie’s body was found.On the Tuesday, the unawares bailiffs arrived.

Christopher Foster had feared their arrival.

He had left them nothing to collect.

Read more:

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In total, 12 fire crews dealt with the fire. And it took investigators seven days just to remove all the bodies.

On top of spent cartridges, they found a gun fitted with a silencer in the ashes.

On 2 April 2008, a two day inquest started. Those present were able to watch the house CCTV between 3:12am and 3:49.

“The footage was…unbelievable really, you couldn’t believe what you were watching and within the inquest it was absolutely silent. You could see what he was doing and it was like something out of a movie, it was unbelievable.” Kirsty Smallman, Crime Reporter

The CCTV captured the shooting of a horse. It showed Foster setting on fire his stables. It showed Foster driving the horsebox that he used to block the emergency services. Many commented on how calmly Foster had gone about the complete destruction of everything in his life.The inquest found that Foster had been drinking before the murders. It also found out that he was suffering from a heart defect. This was probably bought on by stress.

The coroner ultimately recorded that Christopher Foster unlawfully killed his wife and daughter before killing himself.The inquest did reveal that perhaps mercifully, both Jill and Kirstie were asleep when Foster shot them.

Everything to live for The coroner John Ellery said Mrs Foster and her daughter had had ‘everything to live for.’ He also offered the possibility that Foster looked like he had planned his exit. He suggested that perhaps he left the CCTV running as a witness of his actions for those remaining.

He also recommended that as the gun owning Foster had warned his GP of suicidal feelings, that GPs be informed of any application to pick up a gun license. It was a view endorsed by Foster’s surviving brother:

“We wish to highlight that preventative measures such as improved communication between GPs and police forces firearms officers in the future could help stop a similar tragedy happening to another family...We are encouraged to hear about the steps that are being taken to redress this issue.” Andrew Foster, brother of Christopher

The Association of Chief Police Officers and the British Medical Association announced planned guidelines to improve communications between GPs and police forces.

Suicide after homicide

Christopher Foster’s crime, though horrific, is far from unique. The killing of one’s family and then oneself may only represent 6% of homicides in England and Wales, but it is common enough that there is a term for it: The ‘Family Annihilator’;

“The domestic homicide perpetrator is more likely ...to be if you like respectable in some ways, slightly more educated, in employment etc. And they are men with a great deal to lose a great deal invested in their relationships, jobs, homes, children. And this terrible event of homicide followed by suicide is frequently triggered by events which are causing them to lose those important things in their lives.” Dr Marilyn Gregory, Sheffield University

One theory is that once the perpetrator decides on suicide, they are free to kill without consequence. Others believe that the suicide is only set upon after the homicides as intense feelings of regret overcome the perpetrator.The Foster family were laid to rest on 19 December 2008. The relatives decided to hold separate funerals. The first was for Kirstie and Jill.

A few hours later, their killer was buried.Present was his surviving brother. Andrew later stated he had no interest in claiming any stake in his brother’s estate. Creditors had until September 2010 to put in their claims.

The site where the Foster family house stood has now been cleared.In 2012 the property went up for sale. It had planning permission for another luxury three storey mansion to be built.