Millionaire and family feared dead after fire wrecks home

Published on Thursday 28 August 2008 10:44

A MISSING millionaire and his family were feared dead today following a suspected arson attack on their home.

Christopher Foster, his wife Jill and their 15-year-old daughter Kirstie have been missing since a blaze ripped through their secluded country house in Shropshire in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

According to reports today, bullet cartridges and pools of blood were found in the courtyard and the front door was barricaded from the inside.

The family went to a friend's barbecue on Monday before returning home later that evening.

The fire started at around 5am on Tuesday, destroying a stable block and garage and badly damaging the house itself. Three horses were found dead.

The damage to the house, in Maesbrook, near Oswestry, was such that search teams were not able to enter it yesterday.

Police have refused to say if their investigation is a missing persons inquiry or a murder probe or comment on reports that a horsebox had been parked in front of the gates to the property as the blaze took hold, blocking the entrance.