Mansion arson plot thickens: A murder mystery – or a family on the run?

Four days after it was razed , police finally entered Osbaston House yesterday. Teams of white-suited forensic officers on their hands and knees slowly combed the once lavish mansion looking for clues. But so far nothing.

No one has seen Christopher Foster, 50, his wife Jillian, 49, or their daughter Kirstie, 15, since they left a barbecue in high spirits on Monday night.

At first police assumed they were dead – victims of a deliberate and meticulously planned arson attack. But now officers are seriously considering the possibility that the fire could have been an elaborate diversion giving the family time to flee the country.

Yesterday, police revealed that they had taken the step of drawing up "profiles" of each of the three family members. Such information is only likely to be useful to officers in tracing the family if they are still alive.

On the face of it, the family had no reason to leave behind their lifestyle and £1.2m home. Osbaston House, originally a 16th-century farmhouse, boasted five bedrooms, two bathrooms and a 48ft dining room with a 28ft high beamed ceiling. Some rooms had expensive flock wallpaper, while others had oak-panelled walls, antique tapestries and velvet curtains.

Outside was a man-made wood where sheep, ducks and chickens roamed. There was a lake too, and another being built. In the 15-acre grounds, Mr Foster kept his sports cars – a Porsche, a Ferrari, and an Aston Martin – and a Range Rover. They were housed in the garage, which was beside the stable where Mrs Foster and Kirstie kept three horses – Breezy, Bramble and Scrumpy Jack.

The Foster family holidayed in luxury, with Dubai among their favourite destinations. Mr Foster had expensive hobbies too. He was said to enjoy regular shooting and fishing trips. Friends said he enjoyed the "country squire" lifestyle, and had been at a clay pigeon shoot on the day before his house was destroyed.

His wife's extravagance appears limited to her love for horses and her 4x4 car, which bore the registration plate JILL40.

Kirstie also enjoyed the trappings of the family's wealth. She was educated at the £16,500-a-year private school Ellesmere College and was a keen horserider.

But the wealth was a facade. The home, the grounds and extravagant lifestyle that they were so proud of was not as it seemed. They had extensive debts, their house was in the hands of liquidators and the family were forbidden to sell it without permission.

Land Registry documents for Osbaston House show an October 2007 High Court order stating that the house could not be sold without a further order by a judge. Another court order, from 21 May this year, said the house could not be sold without the agreement of the liquidators, Birmingham-based Butcher Woods. It in effect meant that the three-storey house was no longer Mr Foster's to sell.

Mr Foster's business was in trouble. He made his millions as managing director of Ulva Limited, a company which specialised in providing insulation for oil rigs.

But the company, which was set up in 1998, went into liquidation last year after racking up debts of £1m, which it owed to a supplier, and £800,000 in tax.

There was then legal action over claims that Mr Foster tried to transfer assets from Ulva Ltd to another company he had set up, Ulva International Ltd, so he could carry on trading despite the failure of his business.

Lord Justice Rimer said it was "an asset-stripping exercise directed as enabling him to carry on its business through another company with a similar name".

The judge ruled that Mr Foster had acted improperly by appointing administrators with the motive of protecting his own business reputation. He said: "The administrators were attempting to negotiate with someone, Mr Foster, who they knew to be bereft of the basics of commercial morality. He was not to be trusted."

More recently, Mr Foster moved into property. But that too led to further court appearances. In 2006, he was embroiled in a £100,000 blackmail case. He claimed that two former business partners had tried to extort the money from him over a land deal that went wrong in Cyprus.

Tim Baker, 35, and Leo Dennis, 42, walked free after a trial at Shrewsbury Crown Court. They claimed that Mr Foster's blackmail claims were invented as a way to conceal a plot by Mr Foster to have Mr Baker assaulted. Mr Foster denied this in court.

Whoever burnt the house down appears to have left a number of clues. What is known for definite is that the fire was arson.

In total three buildings were set alight – the main house; a building which houses the garage and stables; and another outhouse. The buildings are several metres apart, meaning that each would had to have been set alight.

The windows and doors of the main house were boarded up from the inside and a horse box with a flat tyre was placed in front of the electronic gates at the entrance to the estate, all of which appear to have hindered the emergency services.

Scattered around the grounds were pools of blood and spent bullet cartridges. The family's three horses were found among the ashes of the stables and the two dogs are still missing. However, it has been reported that all five animals were slaughtered before the blaze was started. Superintendent Gary Higgins, of West Mercia Police, said that it was likely to be a long investigation. "We have completed a cursory search of the annexe part of the main building, which is relatively intact following the fire," he said.

"Officers have completed a search of the outbuildings and are now in the process of removing vehicles from the site. I'm aware that there is a lot of speculation concerning this incident and we are anxious to clarify the exact circumstances as soon as possible.

"However, I stress this will be a lengthy process and we would ask for the support and co-operation of the local community while we continue to work at the scene. Nearly 100 officers and support staff are continuing to work round the clock."

Since the blaze, neighbours, friends and acquaintances of the Fosters have offered opinions on what sort of family they were.

A friend, who attended the BBQ with the family the night before the fire, said they had been in high spirits. "They looked like they were enjoying themselves and Chris got a bit drunk," he said. "They were among the last to leave at about 8.30pm and seemed completely normal."

Mrs Foster's distraught sister, Ann Giddings, of Perton, Wolverhampton, said: "The whole family are in limbo at the moment, and we have no idea what has happened. Not knowing what's happened just makes it even more difficult – it's a terrible waiting game. We are all just too upset to say anything else at the moment."

Brendan Wignall, Ellesmere College's headmaster, said: "We are very concerned for the safety of Kirstie and her family, who are in our thoughts and prayers.

"Kirstie is a charming, popular and hard-working girl with many friends, all of whom are hoping that she and her family will be found safe and well." Friends left anxious messages on a number of internet sites.

Terrence Bains, a former business partner of Mr Foster, said: "Chris was a good family man and a very nice chap. He liked to live life big with holidays and cars. He adored his daughter. He was just an ordinary everyday chap, well-dressed, a good businessman."

But Leo Dennis offered a more damning verdict. He said: "He's not dead. He has got places he can go, places scattered around Europe. There are properties that nobody knows about. He can go and just disappear. In my view they won't find him or his family when they go in there.

"He was not a very nice man and now, with what has happened, it will come to light – everything he was involved in. With the kind of things he did, you can't help but make enemies along the way."

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