On August 26 last year Christopher Foster knew the world he had known as a millionaire was about to crumble around him – within hours his wife Jill and daughter Kirstie would finally discover the huge debt he had hidden from them when bailiffs knocked on the door that very day.

They would take away from him assets of about £1.1 million – he would no longer own his beloved home Osbaston House and everyone would know the truth about his failed business and debts.

High Court enforcement officers were due to arrive at Osbaston House that week but he feared the Tuesday after the bank holiday would be the day.

After insisting his family left their neighbour John Hughes’s barbecue at 8.30pm – despite Jill and Kirstie wanting to stay longer – he set about his grim plan.

It was a plan that would see his 49-year-old wife and their 15-year-old daughter go to bed unaware of what would unfold – never to wake again.

None of the five families who enjoyed the barbecue suspected anything suspicious after spending more than eight hours with Foster.

Blasted

Sometime after at about 12.15am, he took his .22 rifle fitted with a silencer upstairs at the five-bedroom property and blasted them to their heads.

The coroner said he would have killed the pair within seconds of each other to prevent either of them stopping him in his tracks.

Behind the gates of their luxury home, he then started “meticulously” killing Kirstie’s beloved animals and then flooding his home and outbuildings with oil before setting it on fire.

He pumped bucket after bucket of oil from the oil tank and carried it to the various rooms of the house. A pipe was also discovered from the tank to one of the windows of the main house – a measure he took to ensure the house would be destroyed.

Neighbour Pauline Edwards told the inquest of the “horrendous” moment she heard “explosions”.

She said she was woken by a “terrific bang” and could see red as she sat up in bed. She said by the time she ran downstairs to call 999 a series of explosions had gone off.

Evidence

The dining room – which Foster either forgot to ignite or thought the fire would destroy – revealed the careful planning behind the tragedy. The businessman placed oil soaked towels over the floor and the sideboard before emptying drums of oil over the floor.

The kitchen where the CCTV footage was being recorded also escaped the worst of the fire. The coroner said nobody would know if he forgot to stop the recording, thought the fire would destroy the evidence or if it was purposely left running.

As the fire spread through the home, the alarm system was triggered. The personal panic alarm system which included mobile radios for Foster to carry around with him also triggered a fault by the fire.

Foster is understood to have stepped up the security at the property after he accused people of blackmailing him.

Two people were cleared after a trial in November 2005 at Shrewsbury Crown Court. The inquest hearings revealed how Foster had been verbally threatened before the trial, which included threats to “squash” his daughter’s fingers.

The corner ruled it was not relevant to the inquest due to the time span.

Mr John Ellery, coroner for Mid and North Shropshire, said Foster ensured “everything was done quickly and methodically”.

Escalated

Foster’s debts escalated while he was the managing director of Telford-based Ulva Ltd and later saw the company go into compulsory liquidation.

His business and only source of income to fund the luxury lifestyle his wife and daughter had become accustomed to had disappeared.

But still Kirstie remained studying at private school Ellesmere College and horses valued at £14,500 remained at their home, along with £56,000 worth of top-of-the-range vehicles.

The 50-year-old told friends he would not “degrade” his beloved family by making them take a step back in life. He knew his reputation as a “wealthy and successful business” had gone.

So Mrs Foster and Kirstie smiled for the camera at Mr Hughes’s barbecue – alongside the man who would kill them just hours later.

Mr Ellery said both Foster’s victims “had everything to live for” while Kirstie had her “teenage and adult life ahead of her”.

He described Foster’s actions as “the most extreme response imaginable” to his cash problems.

By Kirsty Smallman and Suzanne Roberts