Father said he had 'a plan' before killing his girls (From Daily Echo)
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Father said he had 'a plan' before killing his girls
7:59am Monday 22nd September 2008 in
DAD Dave Cass told work colleagues "I've got a plan" hours before murdering his two young daughters and then hanging himself.
A police investigation was underway today after the discovery of the three bodies last night.
Officers were called to the scene at Paynes Road MOT garage, Freemantle, at 6.51pm where they forced entry through the locked metal gates onto the site.
The 32-year-old dad had been a self-employed MOT tester at the garage where he had worked for about four years.
This morning garage owner John Mayhew, 56, and manager John Martin, 51, arrived at the scene to find it sealed off.
They paid tribute to their work colleague who they had last seen at work on Saturday morning when he was "depressed and seemed really down".
Mr Martin said: "Dave said he was going to go away. He said 'I've got a plan and said he had been having trouble with his missus.
"I said not to do anything stupid. He said: 'You know me'."
Mr Martin said: "He was a nice guy - he loved his girls and his family really. He was talking about his girls all the time.
"It's said he was devoted to his girls."
Mr Martin said Dave had been staying in the 24ft caravan for about two and a half weeks after they had separated from the family home in Fair Oak.
The couple had been together for about four or five years but that the relationship had been breaking down over the past year.
Comments(32)
obelisker
says...
8:58am Mon 22 Sep 08
the real mr x
says...
9:08am Mon 22 Sep 08
obelisker wrote:i agree. what man could kill his own kids because he is having problems. They trusted there dad and he murdered them.
How often do we see this ultimate act of selfishness, usually carried out by the father although not always. A nice bloke he may have been, depressed he obviously was, but to resort to this murderous act is unforgivable. If he felt so low that he decided to end his life...fine,do it quietly out of the way, but to be so selfish as to take the innocent lives of your two children with you in a "if I can't have them..nobody will" deserves no pity for him at all, just sadness for two lives cut short.
AngrySotonResident
says...
9:16am Mon 22 Sep 08
I feel sorry the whole family including those who have died. This man must have been bought to desperation not being with his kids 24/7 in the same house.
In some ways I can understand, even though cowardly, his actions and his actions were probably bought about by a sexist society/legal system. Dads should have equal rights to overall custody of their own children as much as mums. Yet they have to fight hand and tooth in the courts.
What a shame!!
itsmehere
says...
9:48am Mon 22 Sep 08
vermin
says...
9:49am Mon 22 Sep 08
What an awful state of affairs when the only way left to some dads is to hope that enough examples of this sort of disgraceful behaviour might influence politicians into changing some truly awful laws and allow divorced dads some rights.
May the father rot in hell for what he did and children rest in peace.
itsmehere
says...
9:58am Mon 22 Sep 08
AngrySotonResident wrote:Feel no pity for the father. What he did was an act of pure selfishness. It was premeditated and planned. Fair enough if he wanted to take his own life, but to end his children's as well is unforgivable. He didn't have the right to do that.
What a sad story to start the week.
I feel sorry the whole family including those who have died. This man must have been bought to desperation not being with his kids 24/7 in the same house.
In some ways I can understand, even though cowardly, his actions and his actions were probably bought about by a sexist society/legal system. Dads should have equal rights to overall custody of their own children as much as mums. Yet they have to fight hand and tooth in the courts.
What a shame!!
MR Southampton
says...
10:15am Mon 22 Sep 08
This man was not selfish in any way.
He was just very ill.
My condolence's to his wife who now has to pick up the pieces and carry on.
It is those left behind who suffer most.
vermin
says...
10:18am Mon 22 Sep 08
Let the facts of this divorce come out, if only serve to shed light on why this piece of human garbage did what he did.
AngrySotonResident
says...
10:21am Mon 22 Sep 08
itsmehere wrote:Sorry but I do feel sorry for the father. Something pushed him over the edge to make such a premeditated act. I agree it is a cowardly act as I have said earlier.
AngrySotonResident wrote:What a sad story to start the week.I feel sorry the whole family including those who have died. This man must have been bought to desperation not being with his kids 24/7 in the same house. In some ways I can understand, even though cowardly, his actions and his actions were probably bought about by a sexist society/legal system. Dads should have equal rights to overall custody of their own children as much as mums. Yet they have to fight hand and tooth in the courts.What a shame!!Feel no pity for the father. What he did was an act of pure selfishness. It was premeditated and planned. Fair enough if he wanted to take his own life, but to end his children's as well is unforgivable. He didn't have the right to do that.
As vermin toytown states what is wrong is the state in which fathers are ripped away from their families so easily and can easily be denied any form of contact with their offspring. Until all the facts have been reported no-one can make full and fair judgement.
siobhanh
says...
10:29am Mon 22 Sep 08
southmandan
says...
10:40am Mon 22 Sep 08
S!mon
says...
10:58am Mon 22 Sep 08
OMG
says...
11:34am Mon 22 Sep 08
while i feel such sadness for the family, it remains that someone who kills themselves and in this case his children, is not selfish, but mentaly unstable.
someone who is thinking clearly and logically does not kill themselves let alone his children. the concept of selfish doesnt enter someones brain when they are feeling this low.
so selfish no, misguided and mentaly unstable yes.
D'Arcy Sarto
says...
11:51am Mon 22 Sep 08
We need to start accepting that mental illness is as real as cancer or any other illness and as such we should be putting more resources into understanding and reducing it or tragedies like this will become more common.
I can't even start to imagine the absolute living hell that all the families involved are going through today and i offer them my sincere condolences.
enidx
says...
11:56am Mon 22 Sep 08
I agree with op, he must have been very very unwell, but this is no excuse for what has happened, someone within the family or collegues must have seen a change in him, it is not the way of a rational thinker !!
Relationship breakups seem to be the way of the modern world. Perhaps divorce is too easy these days, people dont have to work at their relationships.
It is very sad when children get caught up in break-ups, they did not ask to be born and should not be used by parents as a bargaining tool. Parents have a responsibility to care for their children, but children also need stability and should not be passed backwards and forwards between parents, Parents need to put the childrens needs first, and stop the woe is me attitude.
Unfortunately this parent has gone too far.
Busymum
says...
12:04pm Mon 22 Sep 08
Busymum
says...
12:19pm Mon 22 Sep 08
waltons11
says...
12:35pm Mon 22 Sep 08
Number6
says...
1:05pm Mon 22 Sep 08
Why do people always look for excuses when lowlife's like these come to the fore?
As for all the 'the legal system is unfair to Dad's brigade',it's shameful how you can find an ounce of justification in these actions.
kateb
says...
2:17pm Mon 22 Sep 08
JB Soton
says...
2:24pm Mon 22 Sep 08
OMG wrote:My feelings reading about this are the same as any right thinking persons.
how incredibly sad. my heart goes out to the mum of these little girls.
while i feel such sadness for the family, it remains that someone who kills themselves and in this case his children, is not selfish, but mentaly unstable.
someone who is thinking clearly and logically does not kill themselves let alone his children. the concept of selfish doesnt enter someones brain when they are feeling this low.
so selfish no, misguided and mentaly unstable yes.
My sincerely heartfelt condolences to all family members especially to Mumxx
I dont know how you can call this person 'mentally unstable' I call him criminally INSANE.
blanche
says...
2:32pm Mon 22 Sep 08
vermin
says...
2:42pm Mon 22 Sep 08
1:05pm Mon 22 Sep 08
All this "he was ill" and "didn't know who to ask for help" is all pc nonsense. This coward has murdered two innocent girls to spite his wife.He wasn't ill - he was evil!
Why do people always look for excuses when lowlife's like these come to the fore?
As for all the 'the legal system is unfair to Dad's brigade',it's shameful how you can find an ounce of justification in these actions.
All this "he was ill" and "didn't know who to ask for help" is all pc nonsense. This coward has murdered two innocent girls to spite his wife.He wasn't ill - he was evil!
Why do people always look for excuses when lowlife's like these come to the fore?
As for all the 'the legal system is unfair to Dad's brigade',it's shameful how you can find an ounce of justification in these actions.
You clearly haven't been through a divorce then have you? The guy is low life and his behaviour is inexusable but so is the behaviour of the state in all this. If the state's bias towards the woman that drove him over the edge don't we owe it to ourselves to look at this?
I remember how I felt - I lost 75% of what I had to my ex AND paid off her debts. All the more galling when 5 years later my kids turn up at my door and ask to move in with me. They been with me ever since.
Something is wrong with the system
obelisker
says...
2:46pm Mon 22 Sep 08
Number6
says...
3:10pm Mon 22 Sep 08
obelisker wrote:Absolutely spot on.
You can argue all you want about the depths that depression and mental illness generally takes you down to. People can cut themselves,starve themselves, and a whole host of other self-harm acts, culminating in suicide,but there is NO excuse for taking others with you,be it by shooting your classmates,people in the street, or in this case your own infant children. It is a purely selfish act thinking that 'I feel so bad that I want to die,but they are coming with me'. This crime was well thought out by a depressed but ultimatley vindictive mind.
thesouth
says...
4:36pm Mon 22 Sep 08
All in all by making excuses for him you are maing excuses for all murderers.
H.R.H. KING MUSH
says...
6:13pm Mon 22 Sep 08
ner so that 'nobody else can have her'.
Many of us sadly experience break-ups of relationships but (hopefully) move on as the doors of life open and close.
Everybody seems to waver between this guy being 'evil' or mentally unstable, criminally insane and whatever labels fit.
I know I bang on about it, but I just wonder if the question of drug abuse might be lurking below the surface? Just a thought.
Many people cannot face what life throws up and often kill themselves - sometimes in rather messy ways and leaving others to clear up a disgusting mess.
Do some of these people wish to make kind of 'statement' by an extreme case of killing their beautiful young kids? Do they crave some kind of sick 'celebrity' status and want their name to live on?
Bad enough with the likes of the Bridgend kids who seem to wrapped up in these mad internet 'suicide' sites that can tip them over the edge as they merely have typical teenage 'problems'.
I could cry for these little ones and if there is a Hell, then I sincerely hope that this person burns slowly for eternity.
wizzle
says...
7:40pm Mon 22 Sep 08
Rest in peace you beautiful girls and my thoughts are with those left behind.
H.R.H. KING MUSH
says...
9:50pm Mon 22 Sep 08
wizzle wrote:There are many many people who have 'suicidal thoughts' but are mostly a cry for help and some attention. If only more of us were aware and enlightened then perhaps a few tragedies might be avoided.
I just feel sad that the father was asking for help in the family, by telling them he had suicidal thoughts.If only someone had taken him more seriously and listened to him, then all of this could have been avoided. It is unforgiveable that he took the girls lifes and i feel so upset for them and the family. I hope people can learn from this and listen when someone else is crying for help. Rest in peace you beautiful girls and my thoughts are with those left behind.
As other posters mention - most of us love and cherish our kids through thick and thin- even if they drive us around the imaginary bend. Other fathers seem to deem their partners and offspring as 'possessions' and maybe part of the male psyche that wishes to empower them?
A very thin line between depression and mental breakdown tends to be prevalent plus there will be many more factors at play.
Thankfully, this is a very rare tragedy although following on from several recent cases in which a man chooses to cold heartedly snuff out the most precious people in anyones life, just to 'get back' at his wife or ex. I just hope that some good comes out of this awful story in which people might listen a bit more and try and help if possible.
wizzle
says...
11:30pm Mon 22 Sep 08
As said before, what he did was inexcuseable, but what is done is done....lets all learn from this one!
obelisker
says...
6:22am Tue 23 Sep 08
wizzle wrote:No one is to blame for this mans actions but himself, he was after all an adult. Nothing will be learnt from this and it will happen again,these are tragic events that occasionally happen within the heated emotion of a relationship breakdown. Your last comment is so thoughtless though...."what's done is done" as though it was as trivial as spilling wine on the carpet!
9 times out of 10, suicide is a cry for help and most people would never consider following through with the actions. But in all cases, i think people should be listened to and not brushed off.....this poor man had issues and i get the impression that no one was listening to him.
As said before, what he did was inexcuseable, but what is done is done....lets all learn from this one!
MayStar
says...
4:05pm Tue 23 Sep 08
I just wanted to say that the mother of the children and ALL the family and friends involved are in my prayers. Having a toddler myself this has really upset me. I cannot even imagine what they must be going through. I hope that they will be allowed to move on with their lives at a pace that is right for them. How horrible it must be for this to happen, and then not be able to walk down the street without seeing it on the headlines, or on the news. Everyone knows about this, which will make it all the more difficult to move on.
I appeal to all who have commented with anger, to stop being negative. Yes, it is a senseless waste and a horrible tradgedy, but what will we gain by trying to apportion blame? I think the man admitted blame when he killed himself. Or arguing over whether it was selfish, or a disease, or state of mind - we will now never know for sure.
Show your love, compassion and support for those who are involved. Be discrete, and empathise. The last thing this family needs is to see all your angry comments - those who know nothing about this family have no right judging what happened. I am not saying that he was not to blame, I am just saying what good will it do?
I only wish I could do more for that poor mother. Not to forget the family of the father - how must they feel? Just think about what you are saying and who might be reading it, people.
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Police at the scene in Paynes Road
Garage owner John Mayhew
Garage manager John Martin
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