Father who shot his partner and two young children bought gun he killed them with just days before, inquest told

Kelly Fitzgibbons, 40, and Ava and Lexi Needham, aged four and two, were killed by her partner Robert Needham, 42, on March 29 2020 at their home in Woodmancote, West Sussex.

An inquest on Tuesday heard that weeks before the killings Ms Fitzgibbons had suggested the couple have a relationship break.

The hearing in Horsham heard that Needham and Ms Fitzgibbons had been in a relationship for more than a decade and heard statements from friends and family that they were a happy and loving couple.

But Detective Chief Inspector Charlotte Rimmer and Detective Constable Alice Barr of the Sussex and Surrey Police joint investigation told the hearing Ms Fitzgibbons told Needham on February 5 in a WhatsApp message: ‘I think we should have a break and see how we both feel’, adding that the relationship was ‘not working’.

Needham, a cocaine user, replied: ‘If that’s how you really feel.’

The pair had financial difficulties in the past, having borrowed around £20,000 from Robert’s mother Maureen, and they were living in the mother’s home rent and bill free at the time of the deaths.

Ms Fitzgibbons had around £3,000 of credit card debt and Needham had a £14,000 bank loan outstanding.

On March 4 the pair bought a house together, the second property they owned, with a view to renting it out as they did their first house.

The pair also restructured the buy-to-let mortgages they held on both properties so their new mortgage monthly payment for both properties was less than the previous payment for one property.

The two mortgages were fully covered by the rental income from the tenant of the first property, however, when the coronavirus lockdown came into effect on March 20 Ms Fitzgibbons was concerned they would not be able to find a tenant for the second property.

DCI Rimmer told the inquest Needham purchased a shotgun from a registered firearms dealer on March 20, nine days before the killings, telling the dealer he wanted to shoot pigeons.

He did not purchase any ammunition but a bag of shotgun cartridges was found on the dining table in the home.

He had held a shotgun licence since 2015 and a firearms licence since 2019. In 2019 he sold three weapons and then did not own any until March 20.

Needham’s toxicology report found he had a long-term history of cocaine use. He had visited an ear, nose and throat consultant in 2017 as he was concerned he may have a form of cancer in his nose, but by 2018 the consultant concluded the pain he experienced was caused by cocaine use.

Analysis of Needham’s blood and urine samples found alcohol below the legal drink-drive limit and no traces of cocaine, however, analysis of his hair found evidence of cocaine suggesting he had used it in the three months before his death.

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The inquest continues and is due to run until next Monday.