Briton accused of killing wife and mother-in-law found 150 miles from crime scene in homeless camp

Dave Thomas McCann is accused of slitting his wife and mother-in-law's throats

This Wednesday, May 11, 2016, photo released by the Clovis Police Department shows Dave Thomas McCann, center left, being escorted by officers in Clovis (AP)

A British man suspected of slitting his wife and mother-in-law's throats has been found hiding 150 miles away from the scene in a coastal homeless camp in California.

After a four-day manhunt, a tip from a homeless person led investigators to Dave Thomas McCann, 49, a British man living in California.

He was taken into custody suspected of killing his wife, Tierney Cooper McCann, 36, and her mother, Judith Cooper, 68, at their home in Clovis on Saturday.

Tierney McCann's sister, Cortney Rider, said she was at the home when Dave McCann kicked down the door and attacked her family.

She told KFSN-TV that she watched him cut her sister's throat.


 Dave Thomas McCann is accused of killing his wife and mother-in-law
 (AP)

"He looked at me and said, 'You're next,' and I immediately ran out the front door and ran to the next door neighbours," Ms Rider told the TV station.

She said her mother was hiding in a bedroom, but he knocked down the door and slit her throat.

McCann's failing marriage and folding business may be what caused him to snap, Ms Rider added.

A day before the murders, McCann had gone to the Clovis Police Department and asked an officer to accompany him to the home to collect some of his personal belongings, which happened without incident, a police spokeswoman said.

After the slayings, he drove a truck towards the coast, abandoning it two hours away in the city of Paso Robles, investigators say.

From there, he may have ridden a bicycle and hitched rides north, to the coastal town of Seaside.

McCann did not use a cellphone and did not withdraw money from an ATM, which could have pinpointed his location, Clovis Police Chief Matt Basgall said at a news conference in Seaside after the arrest.

A break in the search came when a homeless person tipped off investigators to McCann's whereabouts. Officers found McCann asleep at the homeless camp, Mr Basgall said.

Police said McCann is a British citizen living in the US on a green card.