Inquests to open on Foster family

The inquests on three members of a Shropshire family whose bodies were found in their fire-ravaged mansion will be opened tomorrow by Mr John Ellery, Mid and North Shropshire coroner.

See also: Foster Mansion Tragedy

He will open the inquests on Chris, Jill and Kirstie Foster for identification purposes at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court.

All three bodies were found at the family's home at Osbaston House, Maesbrook, after a devastating blaze.

Detectives have said they believe Chris Foster murdered his wife, Jill, by shooting her in the head, and killed their 15-year-old daughter Kirstie before setting fire to their £1.15 million home and then killing himself on August 26.

The fire gutted Osbaston House and it took investigators nearly three weeks to formally identify Kirstie, a pupil at Ellesmere College.

It is not yet known how she was killed.

The cause of death for Foster, who moved from Allscott near Wellington four years ago, is also still unknown at this stage.

He ran a pipe insulation firm called Ulva Ltd, in Telford, which went into liquidation last year.

Police believe Foster also killed the family animals, including their horses and dogs.

Ballistic tests are being done to see whether his rifle, which was found near to his and his wife's bodies, was the murder weapon.