Deaths were 'beyond comprehension'
VIDEO: Their deaths were 'beyond comprehension' - the words of a coroner today at the inquest into the deaths of two children, stabbed by their father in a country lane in Hampshire. Martin Dowse reports.
Horror of stabbed children
An inquest is due to resume today into the deaths of a father and his two children. Michael Pedersen, who was fifty one, stabbed his son and daughter before killing himself near Andover at the end of September.
Children unlawfully killed by father
A coroner has ruled that two children who were stabbed to death by their father were unlawfully killed.
The inquest heard how Ben Pedersen, 7, and sister Freya, 6, were found stabbed on a dirt track near Newton Stacey near Andover.
The body of their father Michael was found alongside them.
The court heard how Mr Pedersen, who served in the Household Calvary and survived an IRA bomb attack in Hyde Park in 1982, had been depressed after his marriage had broken down.
Coroner Grahame Short told the inquest that the deaths of children were "beyond comprehension" as he recorded that Ben and Freya were unlawfully killed. He recorded a suicide verdict on Mr Pedersen
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The death of a father - and his two children
We expect details to be released today about the deaths of a father and his two children. The bodies of Michael Pedersen and his son and daughter were found near Andover in September. Police believe he stabbed them before killing himself. An inquest is due to resume later.
