Killer dad gave his young children bullet casings as a present months before shooting them dead in their beds.
Edward Livingstone shot his two children Edward, nine, and Ellen, six, at their family home before turning the gun on himself in January last year.
An inquest into their deaths heard disturbed Livingstone had presented Edward and Ellen with the bullet casings and had also spoken to friends and acquaintances about his desire to kill his children.
Livingstone's estranged wife and the children's mother Katharine Webb said she felt the 'present' was a coded warning and was fearful that her former partner had access to weapons.
The New Zealand Herald reports Miss Webb told the hearing Livingstone had raped her before their separation but she had not reported it to police.
She said: "That wasn't my focus. My main focus was the safety of the children and just to get away from him."
Livingstone, a prison officer who had a prior conviction for arson after torching the home of a former partner, turned the gun on himself as neighbour Christopher Foot came round to the house after hearing the shots which killed Edward and Ellen.
Their bodies were discovered inside the suburban home in Dunedin, New Zealand on January 15 last year.
Dunedin District Court also heard Livingstone had told friends and acquaintances of his desire to kill his children.
Former co-worker Jeffrey Fleming told the hearing: "The first method was stabbing them with a knife, he told me that he was thinking about that.
"Then after that he said another method would be shooting them."
The inquest continues.
Culled From Mirror
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