Twins' father 'studied poisons'

The father of missing Swiss twins used his computer to research poisons and guns several days before taking the girls to Italy and apparently taking his own life, police said yesterday.

A police spokesman, Jean-Christophe Sauterel, said Matthias Kaspar Schepp also looked at websites listing "various means of suicide".

The six-year-old girls Alessia and Livia were reported missing by their mother on 30 January. She and Schepp were separated and had homes in Lausanne.

The search for the twins spread to Corsica and southern Italy on Wednesday after authorities confirmed Schepp drove them to Marseilles and boarded a ferry for Corsica on 31 January.

Schepp, 43, apparently threw himself under a train in Cerignola, Italy, on 3 February.