Father killed partner and children at home after ‘relaxed’ family FaceTime call

Robert Needham, 42, killed Kelly Fitzgibbons, 40, and children Ava and Lexi Needham, four and two, before turning the gun on himself at their home in Woodmancote, near Chichester, West Sussex, on 29 March 2020.

Mystery still surrounds the events that immediately led up to the attack after an inquest in Horsham found the reason for the killings ‘remains completely unclear’.

But in a conclusion on Monday, Assistant Coroner Bridget Dolan QC said that although she was prevented from making a finding of criminal liability, Needham had been the perpetrator of the ‘heinous’ act of violence.

The father-of-two ‘brutally murdered’ his family after a quiet evening in on the first Saturday of lockdown, having ordered a takeaway and called his half-sister hours earlier, the coroner said.

‘They FaceTimed Robert’s half-sister at about 6.20(pm). They were all looking relaxed on the sofa, Lexi was jumping about playing, Ava was reading to her aunt, and it was all a really unremarkable interaction,’ Ms Dolan said.

Throughout the evening, there was no evidence suggesting any sign of the ‘diabolical destruction’ that was about to take place, the inquest heard.

Needham spent the night donating small amounts of money to charities, including the Red Cross and Shelter, and forwarding a ‘joke video clip’ he had been sent earlier in the day.

Ms Dolan returned conclusions of unlawful killing for Ms Fitzgibbons, Ava and Lexi and one of suicide for Needham himself.

She recorded the date of the deaths as March 29 2020, though the exact time of the killings on that Sunday morning remains unknown.

The couple appeared to have had some relationship problems, with Ms Fitzgibbons messaging her partner in February suggesting the possibility of going on a break.

But these were ‘isolated exchanges’ and could not alone explain the killings – nor could minor financial worries involving a small amount of debt the family was facing, the coroner said.

‘What is clear is that all three cruelly and needlessly lost their lives having had them taken away from them by Robert Needham,’ Ms Dolan said.

‘A coroner is forbidden by law to make any finding of criminal liability on the part of a named person on a record of inquest, but there should be no doubt that the conclusion I will be returning in respect of Kelly and the girls is that they were unlawfully killed.

‘And in coming to that determination that the perpetrator of that heinous act was Robert Needham, even if his name can’t lawfully appear on the record of inquest.

‘Really why this tragedy occurred remains completely unclear.’

The coroner also voiced concerns about the gun licensing application process at the time, which saw Needham granted a certificate despite being caught out lying on his form.

He bought the gun used in the shootings from a registered dealer nine days before the attack, having obtained a licence in 2016.

Needham initially applied to Hampshire Police’s firearms department as that was where he lived at the time, but it was granted by Sussex Police as he moved before the process was completed.