Killer in the Family

Chris Hawkins was a sheet metal worker who had lived all his life in the village of Slaithwaite near Huddersfield.

To his friends he appeared to be a normal, friendly man, but at home he was violent and abusive to both his wife, Val, and their three children. When Val eventually plucked up the courage to leave him, he raped her at knifepoint. Hawkins was arrested but freed on bail, and although an injunction prevented him from going anywhere near Val he was permitted access to the children.

One September afternoon Hawkins attacked his daughter Donna and four year old son Ryan with a knife – Ryan did not survive. He then went for a drink in his local pub before being picked up by police on route to Val.