REALITY TV
TV
MOVIES
MUSIC
CELEBRITY
About Us Contact Us Privacy Policy Terms of Use Accuracy & Fairness Corrections & Clarifications Ethics Code Your Ad Choices
© MEAWW All rights reserved
MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CRIME & JUSTICE

Builder kills partner and two children before shooting himself over fear of 'running out of money' amid pandemic

Police are treating the deaths as a triple-murder suicide and are not looking at any other suspects
UPDATED APR 1, 2020
Robert Needham (Sussex Police)
Robert Needham (Sussex Police)

A UK father is suspected to have killed his partner, their two young children, and their dog before turning the gun on himself in a gruesome triple-murder suicide over fears that they would run out of money amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Sussex Police were called to the $618,000 three-bedroom home of Robert Needham, 42, at around 6:45 pm on Sunday, March 29, after receiving a call raising a welfare concern for its residents, according to the Daily Mail.

When cops reached the scene, they found the bodies of Needham, his partner Kelly Fitzgibbons, 40, their two children Ava, four, and Lexi, two, as well as their Staffordshire Bull Terrier. Needham's mother, Maureen, 77, is said to also have been at the residence at the time of the killings but was luckily unhurt.

"This is believed to be an isolated incident contained to one property and in these early stages of the investigation we are not seeking anyone else in connection with the incident," said Sussex Police Chief Superintendent Jerry Westerman.

"Specialist officers have been deployed to support the investigation and we’re urging anyone with any information to get in touch. Our thoughts are with the family at this incredibly difficult and challenging time."

While a motive is still unclear, some have suggested it might have to do with financial troubles that were looming for the family.

Kelly Fitzgibbons with her two children Ava, four, and Lexi, two (Sussex Police)

Needham reportedly owned a company called Needham Building Services that specialized in domestic construction before it was dissolved last October. Since then, he had been building an extension for his family after moving into his mother's home before the pandemic broke out.

"He was worried about the lockdown and work drying up," a source revealed to the Sun. "It’s not been confirmed that was the motive but it had been playing on his mind."

Following their tragic deaths, tributes have poured in from friends, family, and neighbors.

"Kelly was the sweetest, kindest, loveliest woman who lived for her girls," said Fitzgibbons' stepsister Cheryl Giles.

"I've known the family a very long time. We got on well as neighbors, " said Douglas Meany, 70, a retired neighbor. "As far as I know they were a fairly close-knit family, just normal, but not in each other's pockets. For a while, the house was used as a care home which the family ran."

"We were naturally very surprised, it would take a lot for somebody to do that but there was no evidence previously that there was a problem," he continued. "Robert was building an extension for the family to live in, but whilst he was building that, he wasn't getting an income from any other building work so it might have been that there were issues over finance or it might have been issues over people living together in confined conditions."

Another neighbor who did not wish to be identified described Needham as a "nasty piece of work" who was "rude" and a "bully" and did not care for others around him.

"Kelly was alright but he was a bully," the neighbor said. "He was rude, he let that dog out at all hours of the night. I kept away from him. He was ignorant and also made a lot of noise but he would complain to my landlord about me exercising in the house at tea time... I just didn't want to get into a confrontation with him."

POPULAR ON MEAWW
MORE ON MEAWW