Florist who hanged himself after killing his wife and head-girl daughter was crippled by debts



The businessman who took his own life yesterday after murdering his wife and teenage daughter was heavily in debt, it emerged today.



Wholesale florist Hugh McFall, 48, called police to confess to killing Sue, 55, and Francesca, 18, and then hanged himself in his office.



Detectives believe the mild-mannered family man snapped as he struggled to cope with spiralling debts.



Francesca, who was an only child and former head girl, updated her Facebook pages at 10.16pm on Thursday, a few hours before her death.

Hugh McFall with his daughter Francesca McFall and wife Susan McFall. Police have said they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths

Friends: Head girl Francesca, far right, dressed for a school ball

In her last post she said she was 'buzzing' and looking forward to attending a Valentine's ball at £12,000-a-year Oswestry School in Shropshire with her boyfriend, Max Payne.



The event has been cancelled in the wake of the tragedy.

Friends and relatives were baffled as to what could have happened to lead to the destruction of such an outwardly happy family.



However there were reports that Mr McFall's wholesale flower business was crippled with mounting debts. Neighbours said they had 'heard whispers' that the firm was in trouble, according to The Sun.

Mr McFall is thought to have hidden his money worries from his wife and daughter and recently took them on two expensive holidays - in New York and skiing in Switzerland - spending thousands on credit cards.

Last night his sister Claire Rheade said: 'It's unbelievable - he doted on his family, he would never harm them.

'He was a gentle man who wouldn't hurt a fly.'



Max, 17, said he was devastated to lose his girlfriend, who went by the name of Frankie and hoped to be a doctor.



Devoted: Friends of the McFall couple were shocked to hear of their deaths saying they were a close knit family

'She was a bright and beautiful girl who was always full of fun,' he said.

'I am just lost for words - we were supposed to be going to the school ball, along with many other friends that she made during her short time there.



'Frankie and I never had any discussions about her home life that would indicate she

had anything other than a great relationship with her mother and father. We were great friends and I will miss her so much.'

Her body and that of her mother were found by police at the family's £300,000 four-bedroom detached house in Oswestry. It is not known how they died.



Armed officers then converged on the village of St Martins, six miles away, where McFall had an industrial lock-up for his wholesale florist business. They found his body in his office.



Everything to live for: Francesca had ambitions to become a doctor and was planning to volunteer in hospitals in Nepal

James Bond, a close friend who lived next door, said the noise of police looking for McFall woke him at 5am yesterday.

'A policewoman came to the door and said there were two bodies next door and asked us if we could tell them anything about the family living there because they were desperate to contact the husband,' he said.



'Later we heard the very tragic news that his body had been discovered at the lock-up.



'I was absolutely stunned. They were a lovely family, very close knit. They had just come back from a family holiday in New York, where they had had the time of their lives.



'Poor Hugh must have been beside himself, there's no way he could have done something like this unless he was out of his mind.'

Other friends said the couple, who had been married for around 20 years, were devoted to each other.



Mrs McFall had two grown-up children, Nicola and Daniel Gillham, from a previous marriage. Nicola, 29, is a teacher at The Marches School in Oswestry, where Francesca was head girl before moving to Oswestry School.



She had given up her bank job to help her husband's business, Growing Places, which supplied flowers and plants to supermarkets and nurseries.



Peter Barker, who owned a motor garage next door to McFall's lockup, said the businessman's Land Rover Discovery was parked outside when he arrived for work at 8am yesterday.

'Hugh didn't have a key for the gates to the units but his car was parked outside, so it looks like he jumped over the railings to get into his office,' he said.



'Armed police arrived here at about 8.45am, then an officer came out having found the body saying: "He's not going to hurt anyone else now".'





Alwyn Thomas, 49, who grew up with McFall, said McFall's parents had moved in the 1960s from Liverpool to Weston Rhyn, near Oswestry on the Welsh border.



'Hugh was a family man, very hard working,' he said. 'He and Sue were a nice couple, very well suited.



'Hugh was a happy person, he never looked like someone who had any worries. He must have flipped to do this.'

Hanged: This aerial shot shows the industrial unit where the body of Hugh McFall was found

Forensics: Police search for clues at the McFall family home in Oswestry, Shropshire





Last night, friends paid tribute to Francesca on her site on Facebook.



Joe Croxon said: 'The world has lost someone special today. I just don't get it. She was so nice and sweet and honest. There was nothing bad in her at all.'



It is understood that the teenager was planning to work as a volunteer in hospitals in Nepal on a gap year after her A-levels.



Last night, a family member at the home of Helen Molesworth, McFall's sister, said they were too upset to comment.



Detective Inspector Mick Homden, who is leading the investigation for West Mercia Police, said they were not looking for anyone else over the deaths.



Fifteen months ago, Christopher Foster murdered his wife, Jillian, and teenage daughter, Kirstie, at their luxury mansion in Oswestry before killing himself.



Today's grim discoveries echo the tragic case of the Foster mansion murders in 2008. Kirstie Foster, 15, and her mother Jill were murdered by Christopher Foster before he killed himself The ruins of Osbaston House near Oswestry where the bodies of Kirstie, her father, Christopher, and his wife Jill Foster were found





