The Millionaire

Christopher Foster, 50, had grown rich through Ulva, a thermal insulation company based in Telford, and lived at Osbaston House near Maesbrook in Shropshire, England, with his wife, Jill, 49, and their fifteen-year-old daughter, Kirstie. But the company had gone into liquidation in October 2007, a £3 million freeze on his assets left him without income, and investigators later found his debts outstripped everything he owned by at least £1.2 million.

On August 25, 2008, the family spent the evening at a barbecue with friends, who noticed nothing unusual. In the early hours of the next morning, Foster shot Jill and Kirstie in the head as they slept, using a .22 rifle fitted with a silencer. He shot the family’s dogs and horses, blocked the gates with a horsebox, and spread heating oil through the house before setting it alight shortly after 3 a.m. Security cameras recorded him moving methodically around the property.

Foster lay down beside his wife and died of smoke inhalation. At the 2009 inquest, Shropshire coroner John Ellery ruled that Jill and Kirstie had been unlawfully killed. Evidence showed Foster had told his doctor he felt suicidal about four months before the fire, and the coroner called for better communication between doctors and firearms licensing officers. The ruins were demolished in 2011, and a new house was later approved for the site.