The bodies of three dogs were found at the fire-ravaged home of missing Midland millionaire Christopher Foster as police today moved into the ruins.

New reports suggest Mr Foster, missing with his wife and daughter since a devastating fire on Tuesday, feared he would lose the £1.2 million mansion because of huge debts.

Structural experts made Osbaston House, near Oswestry, Shropshire, safe enough for specialist teams to enter in a search for clues to what has happened the missing businessman, 49-year-old wife Jill and daughter Kirstie, 15.

New pictures have emerged of the inside of Osbaston House taken some years before the suspected arson attack at about 5am on Tuesday. The family, who were at a barbecue the previous evening, have been missing since the the fire.  Three horses were found dead at the scene. Today it was claimed that Mr Foster, owed more than £1 million to creditors of his failed firm and £800,000 in tax.

Mrs Foster’s sister, Anne Giddings, 57, of Perton, near Wolverhampton, said she and brother, Roger Doley, were desperately worried about their sister and family. “We are devastated. This just doesn’t happen to your own family –  it’s like something you see on TV.”

She said she hoped a forensic search of the house would start today and give some answers about the whereabouts of her sister, Mr Foster and Kirstie.

Supt Gary Higgins said: “Officers have completed a search of the outbuildings and are now in the process of removing vehicles from the site. We have completed a cursory search of the annexe part of the main building which is relatively intact following the fire.

“The horses found dead at the scene have been examined and post mortems on them were completed yesterday. We are still awaiting the results of those examinations. The bodies of three dogs were also found close to the horses.”

A horsebox parked close to the  gates was taken away for tests, and police dogs helped with the search. Brendan Wignall, Kirstie’s head  at the independent Ellesmere College in north Shropshire,  said: “Kirstie is a charming, popular and hard-working girl with many friends, all of whom are hoping that she and her family will be found safe and well.”

Supt Higgins said: “Once it has been deemed safe, specialist search teams and forensic experts will go in. It is a large property and there is a lot of debris inside which will have to be painstakingly sifted through.”