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David Cass with daughters Ellie and Isobelle

Kerrie and David before their split with baby Ellie

'I forgive my son for killing my grandchildren'

Friday 15 May 2009

When David Cass callously smothered his two daughters in a bitter act of revenge against their mother Kerrie Hughes, she was understandably left inconsolable.

She is so heartbroken, she can’t even bear to see the little girls she called her “princesses” to
say goodbye.

Monster David Cass, 32, suffocated Ellie, three, and Isobelle, 13 months, with a pillow, then called Kerrie to tell her: “The children have gone to sleep forever and now I’m going to hang myself.”

Heartbreakingly, the toddlers’ bodies were found lying side by side in bed inside David’s caravan. His body was discovered hanging from a girder in the garage where he worked.

As grieving Kerrie, 24, struggles to understand David’s twisted actions, incredibly, there is one woman who is standing by him – his mother, Lynda Cass, who clearly loves him unconditionally.

Shockingly, she can’t bring herself to blame her son, claiming a bitter custody battle between David and Kerrie drove him over the edge.

Widow Lynda, 57 – who refuses to be pictured – says: “The weekend it happened, Kerrie had told him it would be the last time he saw them. He loved those girls to death. They were the most important things in his life and he just couldn’t live without his children.

“I’m the first to admit that what David did was terrible, but he wasn’t a monster. He felt he didn’t have a choice. He thought he was never going to see his kids again. He felt he needed to take them with him.”

MOT tester David had split from Kerrie just three weeks before the tragedy. Kerrie was only 16 when they met and the couple had always had a stormy relationship.

“David took the split really badly, and was very depressed. He was so worried he would never see
his kids again,” says Lynda.

On Saturday 20 September, David collected Ellie – nicknamed the ginga ninja
for her ginger hair – and Isobelle from Kerrie’s house for a weekend visit.

He then took them round to see his mum Lynda at her house in Southampton. “I loved having the children round,” says Lynda. “I never saw the kids much when David was with Kerrie. We spent that afternoon watching TV and the girls played with their toys.”

“Ellie had the most infectious giggle, and would tell everyone that she loved them. Isobelle was just the sweetest baby and really loved her food.”

That evening, Lynda and David bathed the girls and then put them to bed.

“We went downstairs to watch telly and he seemed upset,” recalls Lynda. “He told me if Kerrie ever stopped him seeing the kids he would kill himself. I was shocked. I had never heard him talk like that before. He wasn’t one to wallow.

“He hated the way Kerrie said he could have access to the kids and then changed her mind at the last minute. That broke my heart. I tried to talk to him about it, but I didn’t take it that seriously. I didn’t think he’d ever harm himself or the children.”

On the Sunday morning, the children woke up and spent the morning drawing. David left the house with them at 2pm and Lynda assumed that he was taking them back to Kerrie.

“He just said he had to go and said goodbye. He seemed fine and wasn’t acting strangely in any way,” says Lynda.

At about 6.30pm that evening, Lynda received a frantic phone call from David. “He was sobbing and said the kids had gone to sleep,” she says. “I asked him if he’d dropped them round to Kerrie’s and when he said he hadn’t, I told him he must.

‘They’ve gone to sleep for ever, mum,’ he told me.“I knew then what he meant – even though it was so hard to believe.”

“He told me he loved me and I said, ‘I love you too,’” recalls Lynda. “I think the noose was around his neck and I begged him not to kill himself too. He hung up, and I think he must have
hung himself then.”

Seconds later, Kerrie called Lynda, telling her that David had called her and was saying the same things. “She was angry and shouting at me, and asking where the kids were,” says Lynda.

“He’d told her the kids had gone to sleep too. It all happened so quickly and suddenly, the police were banging on my door.

“I still can’t believe my grandchildren have gone,” adds Lynda. “I loved them so much, they were lovely children. It’s still sinking in. I just feel so shocked and everything is a bit of a blur.”

Kerrie is so engulfed with grief that she can’t face formally identifying her girls’ bodies, or saying goodbye to them. But she has paid tribute to her beloved daughters.

She said: “Everybody who knew my babies knows just how beautiful they are, and that they are and always will be princesses in everybody’s eyes, especially mine.

“No matter what is going on or how busy your days are, tell your babies how much you love them and what they mean to you with a kiss and a hug, every day.”

Friends of Kerrie have branded David an “ogre” who dominated their relationship when they were together and treated Kerrie like a child.

“He was a lot older than her and liked to think he knew better,” reveals a Hughes family friend, who asked not to be named. “She was better off out of the relationship. He was mentally unstable.

“He took those kids away because that was the only way he could hurt her. He thought: ‘I can’t have you, so I’m going to destroy the most precious thing to you.

“He liked to think he was the doting dad,” adds thefriend. “But his rage for revenge overrode any love he had for those girls.

“What he did was pure evil – those girls were innocent and he cruelly took their lives.”

But incredibly, Lynda forgives her son. “He was dedicated to them and thought the girls were better off with him,” she says.

“It’s tragic – I’m a mum too, and I truly feel for Kerrie. And I miss David and my grandchildren everyday.”

By Victoria Raymond