By Calvin Palmer
Forget the professional hit-man hired to carry out a contract. Forget a vicious gang of criminals targeting the homes of the wealthy. The arson and murder at the Shropshire home of millionaire businessman Christopher Foster was an inside job.
CCTV footage recovered from the ₤1.2 million country mansion, Osbaston House near Oswestry, shows Foster with a rifle after leaving the stable block he had set ablaze. Foster legally owned a .22 rifle, which has been recovered from the house.
West Mercia Police have now issued a statement that Christopher Foster murdered his wife and teenage daughter before setting the home on fire and killing himself.
Detectives confirmed that they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the killings. Earlier, the remains of the male adult body recovered from the ashes were identified as those of Foster.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the CCTV film shows Foster is seen running across the courtyard and going into the main part of the house, where police believe he had earlier shot his wife and daughter before barricading the doors and windows to hamper fire crews who were later called to the scene.
A horse box, with its tires deflated, was also left in front of the gates to the property to further hamper the fire crews.
With the bailiffs due to arrive the next day to sequester the house and other possession in lieu of a debt of ₤1 million and ₤800,000 in unpaid taxes, it would appear Foster, aged 50, decided on a scorched earth policy, denying anything of value to the enemy; in his case, his creditors.
These actions are similar to a boy who, losing in an informal soccer game, suddenly picks up the ball, announces that it belongs to him and he is taking it home. In a small boy, such behavior is described as petulant. In a grown man, it is boorish almost to the point of being psychotic.
But Foster wasn’t all he made himself out to be. He had amassed a fortune supplying pipe insulation technology to the oil industry but then his company, Ulva Ltd., began to fail. During the liquidation proceedings in May, a judge described Foster as “bereft of the basic instincts of commercial morality.”
As the perpetrator of this face-saving act, it would appear Foster was bereft of any morality whatsoever. Here was a man driven only by personal possessions and material gain. And when those possessions were going to be taken away, his vanity got the better of him. The real tragedy is that his wife and daughter had to pay the price of saving him from humiliation and loss of face.
The results of tests on the third body removed from Osbaston House are expected to confirm the identity of daughter, Kirstie. The body of Jill Foster was identified from dental records on Sunday. She had been shot in the back of the head.
5 Comments
September 5, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I agree with you. Only someone who is as vain and narcissistic as this ‘father?’ could kill their own child. It is truly beyond belief.
Sure, having bailiffs coming around is not a great thing to happen (I know!) but surely it is better to lose material things and at least have your family to help you through. It’s a pity this prat was too much of a bighead to see it.
I feel so bad for the loss of Kirstie; for the life she will never have, (partying with her mates, working with her wonderful horses, marriage and her own children). My daughter is only a little older than Kirstie. I thank goodness that she is safe and count my blessings that she wasn’t the one ruthlessly and masochistically murdered.
RIP Kirstie, God Bless X
September 5, 2008 at 10:31 pm
It is indeed a tragic case, especially where Kirstie is concerned.
February 21, 2009 at 11:43 pm
terrible this incedent is , life does not hold value over money! there could of been a different way out for this guy! my condolences to the family,best regards ray.
April 9, 2009 at 6:58 pm
tragic, he should have sparred his wife and daughter and pets. money is not everything, who knows things could have worked out.
April 9, 2009 at 7:01 pm
AM I THE ONLY ONE THAT QUESTIONS IF THIS MAN IS STILL ALIVE? HE WASNT EVEN FULLY IDENTIFIED? THEY ONLY ASSUMED IT WAS HIM? WHY WAS THERE DENTAL FOR EVERYONE “BUT” HIM? MAYBE IT WAS SOMEONE ELSES BODY? SOMEONE WHO HAD BEEN THREATENING HIM PERHAPS? MAYBE A MALE FLING OF HIS OR HERS? MAYBE HE BUSTED SOMEONE ELSES TEETH OUT & KILLED HIM & LEFT HIM THERE TO LOOK LIKE IT WAS HIM SO THEY WOULDNT FIND ANY DENTAL OR ANYWAY OF IDENTIFYING HIM?? IT SHOWS HIM DRIVING OUT IN A WINABAGO? LOOKS LIKE ONE ANYWAY, WHERE IS IT? IT DOESNT LOOK LIKE THE HORSE TRAILER LEFT BLOCKING THE LANE! WHY WOULD HE GO THRU THE TROUBLE OF PUTTING THE HORSE BOX IN THE DRIVE ANYWAY? TO MAKE PEOPLE THINK THEY OR “HE” WAS STILL AT THE MANSION? IM SURE HE HAD PLENTY OF SWISS BANK ACCOUNTS THAT HE COULD HAVE GOTTEN HIS HANDS ON OR A STASH TO GET HIM AWAY QUICK WHEREVER HE WANTED TO GO! HE TOLD EVERYONE HE WAS THINKING OF SUICIDE, WELL MY HUSBAND HAS BEEN WITH SAMARITANS FOR 20 YEARS & I CAN TELL YOU THAT PEOPLE WHO ARE GOING TO COMMITT SUICIDE DO NOT GO TELLING PEOPLE THAT! THEY JUST DO IT! HE ALSO JUST HAPPENED TO VISIT A SUICIDE SITE ON LINE? SOUNDS ALL TO PLANNED TO ME! LIKE HE KNEW WHAT PEOPLE WOULD BE LOOKING AT & FOR! I COULD BE WAY OFF BASE, BUT I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN RIGHT IN THE PAST ABOUT MY INSTICTS & I WENT TO SCHOOL FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE & ABNORMAL PSYCOLOGY & MY INSTINCTS ARE SCREAMING THAT THIS MAN IS STILL ALIVE & THAT HE STAGED THIS WHOLE THING TO GET AWAY!!! IM SURE THERE ARE PLENTY WHO MAY THINK IM A NUT BUT IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE ON THE SAME PAGE? IF HE IS RUTHLESS ENOUGH TO KILL HIS OWN BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER THEN I THINK HE IS CAPABLE OF “ANYTHING!”