Horrific CCTV footage has revealed a millionaire killed his wife and daughter and all their pets in an hour long rage before killing himself and setting himself alight.
One-time millionaire businessman, Christopher Foster, was suffering financial difficulties before he shot his wife and daughter dead, British police said today.
Foster's body was found next to that of his wife, Jill, 49, who had been shot in the head, in their burned-out mansion in Maesbrook in western England.
A third body is believed to be that of the couple's 15-year-old daughter Kirstie, although identification is still pending.
Foster owed more than STG800,000 ($A1.7 million) to creditors after his oil pipeline insulation business, Ulva Ltd, went into liquidation last year.
Police said closed-circuit television footage taken a week ago at the mansion showed a man who resembled Foster carrying a rifle.
"We believe that Mr Foster killed his wife and daughter before setting the fires, " said West Mercia Police Detective Superintendent John Groves. "We believe Mr Foster took his own life after setting the house alight."
The Foster family was last seen at a neighbour's barbecue on August 25. The family returned home that evening, and Kirstie is thought to have stayed up messaging friends online until 1am - just three hours before the blaze was started.
Investigators had to wait three days to get into the house because of the heat and falling debris.
After entering the property on Friday, search teams discovered the bodies of Mr Foster, 50, and his 49-year-old wife. The third body was found along with a rifle and unspent cartridges.
Police said the family's three horses and dogs were also found shot to death outside the STG1.2 million ($A2.5 million) country house.
Earlier this year, Foster was ordered to appear in court after another company claimed he owed them money.
A judge ruled in May that Foster had stripped Ulva of its assets and transferred them to a new company. The judge said Foster was "bereft of the basic instinct of commercial morality" and "couldn't be trusted."
