A ruined businessman was filmed by his own security cameras cradling a rifle outside his country house where police now say he shot his wife and daughter before burning their home.

Detectives are poring over hours of CCTV footage from Christopher Foster’s mansion that charts, second by second, how he killed his wife and teenage daughter before setting the house on fire.

Mr Foster appears to have cracked as his business empire crumbled and gone on a murderous rampage rather than see the trappings of his wealth – his home, horses, and cars – seized by bailiffs.

Extensive footage from a number of security cameras shows Mr Foster, 50, standing in the grounds of Osbaston House with a rifle in his hands just before flames destroyed the rambling manor house outside Maesbrook, Shropshire. The images show the stable block and kennels ablaze at about the same time as a large horse-box, used to ferry the family’s three ponies to gymkhanas, was moved down the driveway and parked across the security gates to form a barricade.

Detective Superintendent Jon Groves, who is in charge of the investigation, said that a man he believes to be Mr Foster is visible getting out of the vehicle and shooting at two of the tyres to make it more difficult for the emergency services to reach the fire, which was started in at least two places.

He would not say whether the moments when Foster shot dead his wife, Jillian, 49, or his daughter, Kirstie, 15, were captured by the cameras. With the house ablaze, Foster returned to his wife’s side to take his own life. Police are still searching through the family’s e-mails and computer files for any kind of suicide note.

After seven days of intense investigation, Mr Groves concluded: “Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths of three members of the same family.

“Detectives investigating arson at Osbaston House in the early hours of last Tuesday believe Jill and Kirstie Foster were killed by Christopher Foster. The first body found on Friday was positively identified as Mr Foster from dental records earlier this afternoon. The body of Mrs Foster, also found on Friday, was positively identified on Sunday.

“The location of the third body, found on Sunday, suggests that it is Kirstie Foster. However, further tests are needed to confirm its identity.”

To his neighbours in the commuter-belt village, Mr Foster was a self-confident businessman who enjoyed his wealth and entry into the hunting, shooting and fishing set. He flaunted his four performance cars, his rambling mansion and six acres of pony paddocks, but it was a sham.

The fortune he had amassed as director of Ulva Limited, a company supplying insulation pipes to offshore oil rigs, had vanished as it went into liquidation with debts of about £2 million. His creditors now effectively owned his property, and the bailiffs were about to move in.

A Court of Appeal judge had branded him “bereft of the basic instincts of commercial morality” and someone not to be trusted.

On Bank Holiday Monday the businessman appeared his normal relaxed self as he enjoyed a barbecue and clay pigeon shoot at a neighbour’s house. He left for the short walk home across country fields with his wife and daughter at about 8.30pm.

Although detectives refused to comment on Mr Foster’s state of mind, it is clear that his financial and psychological crisis reached a terrible climax as night fell. Mr Foster is said not to have confided the true state of his financial problems to his wife.

Mr Groves said: “This is a very complex and unusual case and around 100 officers and staff have been working hard to establish the circumstances leading up to the fire.

“Although we have released information about what we believe happened, I would stress that the investigation itself is far from over.”

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