My loving sister and her little girls were murdered by psycho dad with a shotgun – but cruel trolls blamed her | The Sun

TWO little girls carry Easter egg baskets as they enjoy a family walk with their dad and pet dog in the sunshine.

The sweet set of snaps were taken by mum Kelly Fitzgibbons, on March 27, 2020, as the nation prepared to spend its first weekend in lockdown.

These happy images paint a picture of idyllic family life – but on Sunday March 29, the family were all found dead in a crime that shocked the nation.

Kelly's partner, Robert Needham, 42, used a licensed and legally-owned shotgun to kill daughters Ava, four, and two-year-old Lexi at their home in Woodmancote, West Sussex.

He then shot long-term partner Kelly, 40, before killing dog Billy and then turning the gun on himself.

Secret cocaine user Needham had bought the shotgun just nine days before the killings, telling the dealer he wanted to shoot pigeons.

READ MORE TRUE CRIME

Here’s who’s starring in the Channel 5 true crime drama Maxine

The Devil In Me is a video game story for fans of true crime

Now, Kelly’s identical twin sister, Emma Ambler, is campaigning for tighter checks on gun owners – after it was revealed he lied on his shotgun application about a caution for theft and had not disclosed he had been treated for depression.

Speaking to The Sun, Emma, 43, says: “If they hadn't given him that gun licence – and they shouldn't have because he did lie on every box on that form – he wouldn't have been capable of carrying out this act because I didn't know how else you can kill a whole family within minutes, unless you've got access to such a deadly weapon.”

'Kelly was a great mum'

Emma is bravely sharing her family’s horrendous ordeal in a new ITVX true crime series, A Murder in The Family, which takes an in-depth look at the murder-suicide.

She says: “One of the reasons I wanted to do this is because after it happened there were lots of negative comments saying ‘why did she let him have a gun in the house?’ But Kelly never thought they were ever in any danger.

Most read in The Sun

“She never knew he was capable of doing something like this. So I also wanted people to know that she was a great mum to those two girls.”

She also reveals how she had a premonition that her twin sister and nieces were dead before being told the tragic news.

Emma, who lives in Kings Heath, Birmingham, with civil servant husband Tom, 52, and their children, Lily, 16, and eight-year-old Jesse, explains: “We used to speak to each other every single day. She hadn’t replied to a message, which was unlike her.

“And when I hadn't got hold of her by Sunday afternoon, I just knew something was seriously wrong.

“I said to my husband, ‘I think they're all dead’ and he just looked at me like I was crazy.

“I don't know what it was. I just got this sense. I think it was a twin thing, perhaps.”

Legal secretary Kelly and Rob, who had been together for more than a decade, lived rent-free upstairs in the home of his mum, who lived in a self-contained granny flat downstairs.

Rob was building an extension to the house but the family had run into financial problems and had combined debts of £30,000.

However, Emma, an NHS programme manager for autism and disabilities, does not believe the couple had any serious money worries.

She says the brutal attack was a complete surprise to everyone who knew Kelly – and insists her sister wasn’t a domestic abuse victim.

Emma says: “Kelly did get annoyed with him when they had the girls and he didn't particularly pull his weight, but it was never anything that was more alarming than your average couple moaning.

“He worked full-time, while she only worked two or three days a week.

“I think she just accepted what he did – he works hard and he's out of the house a lot.

“But now in hindsight, I wonder if he intentionally wanted to be out of the house a lot because it saved him showing the true side of him.”

She adds: “In hindsight, I think the Rob that we all saw, that we thought was quiet and withdrawn, probably wasn't.

“I think that was probably a well-crafted show that he put on because anyone who is capable of doing what he’s done has got to be some sort of psychopath.”

The documentary features countless photos and videos that devoted mum Kelly took of her two daughters.

Emma says: “We lost our mum, Janice, to leukaemia when we were 15 so we had hardly any video footage of her with us.

“It's a bit odd, considering circumstances now, but Kelly was almost obsessive about making sure there were lots of memories captured of her and the girls and their childhood.

“I think she probably always had in the back of her mind, which I did a little bit, that if something were to ever happen to us, she wanted them to know how loved they were.”

In the weeks leading up the killings, Kelly had sent messages to Rob asking for some time apart.

But she thinks they were just “threats” in a bid to get Rob to be a better partner and dad.

She says: “She hadn't ever said to me that she was going to leave him. I think they were threats to Rob to try and make him buck up his ideas.”

The bodies were discovered when Emma asked relatives living locally to check on the family.

Ava and Lexi were found lying side by side on the bed under the duvet, while Kelly was lying on the floor next to the bed. They had been shot at close range.

Rob was found on the landing.

The inquest into their deaths heard toxicology tests showed he had not taken any cocaine and found his alcohol level below the legal drink-drive limit at the time of the tragedy.

Emma says: “It’s almost unheard of for Rob, especially on a Saturday night, to not have a drink.”

She believes this – and changes in his behaviour in those final weeks, which included him building a playhouse for the kids and going on an Easter Egg hunt – shows that it was a premeditated attack.

Emma says: “Kelly had sort of conveyed to a few people that it was all going well between her and Rob and things had started improving.

“All these things put together – not having a drink, going out on the walk, putting up the playhouse…I still think he did all that because he knew ultimately what he was going to do.”

Last year, Emma was invited to the House of Commons to discuss changes to gun licensing laws.

She is campaigning for a number of measures, including looking at the thresholds for the removal of a gun, the police and GPs to work closely together to improve the sharing of information and for gun reviews to be carried out more frequently.

Emma has also set up The Kelly Fitzgibbons Foundation to support other families of those lost in similar circumstances.

She says: “Kelly was such a caring person and she would have wanted me to use what I’ve been through to help others.

Read More on The Sun

Woman shares clever trick to dry clothes with no tumble dryer in under two hours

Pregnant Amy Childs confirms due date for twins and ‘natural’ birth plans

“It feels like a tiny bit of good has got to come from this.”

A Murder in The Family is now available to stream exclusively on ITVX

Source: Read Full Article