Mother and two children found dead

A woman and her two children were found dead in their home in a Gloucestershire village yesterday. The woman's husband is being urgently sought by police.

Julie Garvey, 37, had suffered head injuries. Her children Benjamin, four, and Hannah, two, were thought by police to have been smothered. All three were found in bedrooms by the children's nanny as she arrived for work at the house in the village of Teddington, near Tewkesbury, just before 8am.

Gloucestershire police said they were treating the deaths as suspicious. Detective Superintendent Peter Shayle said: 'I am particularly interested to make contact with Mr Dennis Garvey, who is not at the house and who may be in possession of the family car - a blue Volvo 740 estate, F874 PFH.'

Mr Garvey, 40, works at the headquarters of the Eagle Star insurance company in Cheltenham. He is thought to work in the computer section.

Yesterday police were carrying out an inch-by-inch search of the four- bedroomed red brick house, as a policeman stood guard at the end of the 40-yard drive. The bodies - which have not yet been positively identified - were being examined by a Home Office pathologist in Cheltenham.

The family was last seen by neighbours leaving for a bank holiday outing.

A neighbour, Liz Johnston, whose children played with Benjamin and Hannah, said: 'We are all stunned. You just don't expect this to happen anywhere, let alone on your doorstep. Everybody is very shocked by what has gone on. They seemed a normal, happy family and we didn't know of any problems.'

The family had lived in Teddington, five miles north of Cheltenham, since they bought Orchard House for pounds 70,000 eight years ago. Mrs Garvey is thought to have worked as an accountant for an

insurance company.