Shropshire florist Hugh McFall, who killed his wife and daughter and then hanged himself after losing a vital contract, could still have continued with his business despite the loss of the deal, economic experts have said.

McFall and his wife Sue “could have stood the loss of the Stan’s Superstore contract for several months”, according to his accountant.

McFall, 48, battered his 56-year-old wife and their 18-year-old daughter Frankie to death at the family home in Hampton Road, in Oswestry, on February 5 just hours after having a contract to supply flowers and plants to the St Martins store terminated.

He then hanged himself at a lock-up he used for his floral business, Growing Places, in St Martins. An inquest yesterday returned a verdict that the women had been unlawfully killed by McFall and that he had killed himself.

The hearing was told that Stans Superstore bosses had called McFall to a meeting on February 4 to discuss an alleged £500,000 fraud against the family-run store.

At the meeting, McFall’s contract with the store, which made up to 95 per cent of his business, was suspended.

But McFall’s accountant Jonathan Hughes told the inquest he could find no evidence of any discrepancies in the florist’s accounts .

He said accounts showed stock purchased by McFall appeared to have been delivered and sent to Stans Superstore properly.

Mr Hughes added the Inland Revenue had inspected McFall’s business and personal bank accounts in 2003 and had found no discrepancies, Mr Hughes said McFall’s floral business was returning profits of up to £60,000 per year.

Mr Hughes said figures showed the McFall family could have stood the loss of the Stans Superstore contract for several months because their credit rating was good and they had assets of more than £300,000.

He said the couple would have been able to obtain a loan to allow them time to develop the business.

Accounts

After the deaths, police carried out a financial investigation of McFall’s business and private banking accounts.

Detective Sergeant Niall Parker said: “What they were making, they were spending. There was not much saving but they were living within their means.”

The police officer said as far as the allegations of fraud against McFall were concerned, he had concluded there would not have been enough evidence for criminal proceedings.