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Anthony SMITH

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

   
 
 
Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Parricide - Former sergeant in the Coldstream Guards
Number of victims: 3
Date of murders: February 2, 2001
Date of birth: 1966
Victims profile: His wife Kay, 33, and their children, Adam, 3, and Gemma, 6
Method of murder: Shooting (shotgun)
Location: Camberley, Surrey, England, United Kingdom
Status: Committed suicide by shooting himself the same day
 
 
 
 
 
 

A former Army warrant officer in the Scottish army is believed to have shot dead his two young children, his wife and then himself.

Police broke into the family house after they were alerted by concerned friends and discovered the lifeless bodies of bodies of former sergeant-major Anthony Smith, his wife Kay, who was in her 30s, and their two children Adam, five, and Gemma, three. 

Smith is thought to have killed his family with a shotgun at their home in Camberley, Surrey.

Police Superintendent John Beavis said: "We have no reason at this stage to believe anyone else was involved and it is likely that we are investigating three murders and a suicide."

 
 

Four dead in shooting

BBC News

Monday, 5 February, 2001

Four people have been found dead after a shooting in Camberley, Surrey.

A man, a woman and two children from the same family were found shot in a house in the Heathside area.

Police have confirmed they are not currently looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

Detective Superintendent John Beavis, of Surrey Police, said: "We have not formally identified the people concerned and we are making inquiries.

"The house is being forensically examined and we are making inquiries with friends and family."

Police were called to the five-bedroomed red brick house, approximately one mile from the centre of Camberley, after neighbours reported that newspapers and milk had been left on the doorstep.

The dead man and woman are understood to be in their 30s, while the children are infants.

Mr Beavis confirmed that a shotgun had been found at the house, which is situated on a private estate.

The scene officers faced by officers when they entered the property on Monday had been very tragic due to the nature of the injuries sustained by the dead, he added.

Barbara MacDonald, chief reporter at the Camberley News, said police had cordoned off the estate at 0930 GMT on Monday.

"They completely sealed it off and were not allowing anybody onto the estate.

"It's a fairly small estate of 30 to 40 houses and as far as I'm aware there are not armed police there."

Post-mortems are due to be carried out on the bodies.

 
 

Inquests held after family shooting

BBC News

Wednesday, 7 February, 2001

Inquests are being held into the deaths of a former soldier, his wife and two young children found shot dead at their home in Surrey.

The bodies of the Smith family were found by police at their home in Camberley on Monday after neighbours noticed the milk and post had not been collected all weekend.

All four were discovered in separate rooms of their five-bedroom home on the Heathside Park estate.

Post-mortem examinations were held on Monday night on former Coldstream Guards sergeant Anthony Smith, 34, his wife Kay, 33, and their children, Adam, three, and Gemma, six.

Surrey police have said they are treating the deaths as three murders and a suicide.

Detective Superintendent John Beavis said no-one else was being sought in connection with the incident.

A shotgun, believed to be a 12-bore, was found at the £300,000 home in Heathside Park where the family had moved last summer.

'Tragic scene'

Det Supt Beavis said neighbours on the 39-house estate had not heard any shots.

Describing the scene that confronted officers, he said: "It's obviously a very tragic scene and set of circumstances that the officers are dealing with."

The dead woman's parents have spoken of their "anger and loss".

Robert and Norma Barkess, of Houghton-le-Spring, near Sunderland, said: "They were a happy couple - this is completely out of the blue.

"Kay was a loving daughter, we couldn't ask for more and we got on well with Anthony."

Mr Barkess said they had last spoken to the family on Wednesday and they had seemed fine.

"We had no idea anything was wrong. Although I was initially very angry, that has given way to a deep sense of loss."

'Glittering career'

Mr Smith left the Coldstream Guards five years ago and joined the export department of Peugeot in Aldershot, Hampshire, before becoming a bodyguard in London.

The family had been living in Rowledge, a village near Farnham, Surrey, before moving to Camberley last June.

His brother Michael said he had everything to live for.

"He had everything, a beautiful home and a glittering career in the army," he said.

"He would have thought the world of his wife and kids. Something must have happened to trigger this."

Jan Whatling, head teacher at Heather Ridge infant school, said Gemma had been a "normal little girl" who was settling into the school.

"Gemma's mother shared the school run with other parents and both her mother and father attended parent evenings," she said.

 
 

Father shoots family then kills himself

By Stephen Wright and Matthew Bayley - DailyMail.co.uk

February 6, 2001

A former sergeant in the Coldstream Guards shot his wife and two young children to death before turning his gun on himself.

Last night, as stunned neighbours asked what could have prompted the bloodbath at the £350,000 home, detectives were delving into the financial affairs of 34-year- old bodyguard Anthony Smith.

Friends believe he may have 'overstretched' himself when he bought the five-bedroom house in the Surrey stockbroker belt last summer.

Police broke into the home on an estate in Camberley yesterday after worried friends reported that milk and newspapers were piling up on the doorstep.

The powerfully-built, popular ex- soldier, who once regaled them with tales of guarding the Queen, Prince Charles and other members of the Royal Family, had not been seen for at least three days. Neither had his wife or the two young children they both doted on.

Inside shocked officers found a scene of what one described as 'appalling carnage'. Three-year-old Gemma Smith, her brother Adam, five, their mother Kay, who was in her early 30s, and Mr Smith, lay dead in the upstairs rooms.

He had shot them each once in the head before taking his own life. A shotgun was also found.

The family, who were originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, moved last June to the home in Heathside Park - an estate of only 39 houses behind iron gates.

They had moved from a much smaller property ten miles away in the quiet village of Rowledge, near Farnham.

Neighbours said that Mr Smith had always kept up an appearance of being wealthy. He even boasted that he had a Porsche 'in the garage' - although no one had ever seen it.

He left the infantry regiment five years ago. One of his most recent jobs was in the export department of a Peugeot dealership in nearby Aldershot which specialised in shipping military cars to international Army bases.

He left Peugeot after just six months when he was offered the chance to use his military expertise working as a bodyguard with a London-based security firm.

A former neighbour in Rowledge, Graham Senior, said: 'They were a lovely family.

'He was a big man in all ways. He was stockily built and was also a boisterous character, a bit of a lad.

'Tony always made out that he had lots of money and I wondered what he was doing around here. I never saw the Porsche that he bragged about.

'Kay was very quiet and often stayed at home although she would join him on his overseas trips to motorshows on behalf of Peugeot.

'He was a generous man and would always bring me back a bottle of wine when he went on a foreign trip.

'He used to like cooking and if ever he cooked too much he would pop next door to me and bring me a plate of food. For someone like me who lives alone, they were ideal neighbours.'

He said Mrs Smith did not want to move from the area because she wanted their son to stay at the same school.

'In the end they moved anyway,' said Mr Senior. 'Tony was a bit fed up with trying to find another place in Rowledge and settled for Camberley.

'However, it was a bit of a surprise because the house they lived in at Rowledge was very tiny and suddenly they moved to a big expensive house.'

The chairman of the Camberley estate's residents' association, May Harris, said the couple were adoring parents.

'They were lovely little children and their parents worshipped them,' she said.

'They were always out at the front of the house playing and would always smile and give you the time of day. It's a terrible tragedy.'

Standing outside the electronic gates of the estate, Detective Superintendent John Beavis said: 'We had a call from friends. There was concern that the family had not been seen for the whole weekend.

'We had to forcibly break in to the house and officers found two infants, a male and a female, inside. It is a very tragic scene.

'We are open-minded at the moment but we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the inquiry at this stage.'

He estimated that the tragedy had probably happened on Friday.

Pat Pearce, Mayor of Surrey Heath, who met the family last year, said: 'I cannot imagine the state of mind he must have been.

'I am very shocked, amazed and horrified. It is sad that noone has helped the man before this happened.'

As a Coldstream Guard, Mr Smith moved between Windsor Castle and St James's Palace, London, where he carried out ceremonial services for the Queen and the Prince of Wales.

The regiment, currently based at Windsor, is the oldest continuously serving unit in the British Army.

Its troops served in the Gulf War and in Bosnia in 1993-4, although the MoD was unable to give more details of Mr Smith's service record.

 
 


The bodies of the Smith family were found by police at their home in Camberley.

 

 

 
 
 
 
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