THE INQUEST into the deaths of a father who killed his two children in Southampton has been formally opened this afternoon.

The Coroner's court in the city heard a brief outline of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of David Cass, 33, and his daughters Isobelle Cass, one and her older sister Ellie, three.

Reading from a police report coroner Keith Wiseman said that had been a recent separation between Mr Cass and his partner Kerrie Hughes and that he was looking after the children on Saturday and part of Sunday for the first time since the split.

He went on to say that Miss Hughes had received a call at 6.42pm Sunday evening from Mr Cass, an MoT tester, to say that he had smothered the children and was going to hang himself.

The police were then called to Paynes Road garage in Shirley where Mr Cass had been living in a caravan and found the bodies of the children inside. Shortly afterwards officers found Mr Cass hanging in the car centre nearby.

Mr Wiseman confirmed that post mortems on the bodies by a Home Office pathologist found that Mr Cass died of hanging and his two daughters, who lived with their mother at Elderberry Close, Fair Oak, died of suffocation.

Mr Wiseman said: "This is obviously a terrible event and I would like to express my very sincere condolences to the family."

The coroner for Southampton added that no police prosecution was likely to come as a result of the case.

The hearing last less than five minutes before it was formally adjourned. No family members attended the inquest and a full hearing is expected to he heard in the coming weeks.