Tragic text from Kirstie
Tragic 15-year-old Kirstie Foster sent a poignant text message to a friend saying "I'm off to sleep. Night, night" moments before she was shot dead by her father, it has emerged today.
Ruined businessman Christopher had cut the youngster's internet connection while she chatted to the friend, forcing her to use her mobile phone.
He then shot her as she slept in the family's £1.2 million mansion, in Maesbrook.
Police believe Foster also shot his Wolverhampton-born wife Jill, aged 49, before setting fire to the luxury home. He then lay on top of her body to die in the fumes caused by the inferno.
Today it emerged that Mr Foster, who was around £1.3m in debt when he "flipped", had also dragged pipes leading from an outside oil tank inside the mansion before setting it on fire.
Family friend John Hughes, who rushed to the mansion while firefighters tackled the "horrendous" blaze, told the inquest at Shrewsbury Magistrates' Court that the pump from the oil tank used for heating was on the floor and that the pipes were "hanging out – and going into the house".
An inquest today heard of Kirstie's last exchange with her 16-year-old friend. In a written statement to the inquest at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court, the friend said: "We had been chatting through MSN messenger for about two hours."
"Shortly afterwards she sent me a text message saying her dad had turned off the internet because he wanted her to go to bed."
