A man believed to have killed his two young daughters before committing suicide at a garage in Southampton has been named locally as David Cass.

Mr Cass, 32, smothered his daughters, aged one and three, before hanging himself in the commercial garage following the break-up of his marriage, police suspect.

The bodies of all three were discovered yesterday evening by police at Paynes Road Car Sales in Southampton, where Mr Cass had worked for four years. Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the murders.

Mr Cass’s boss, John Martin, said he had seemed depressed over the past few weeks because of relationship problems with his wife. Mr Cass handed his notice in on Friday. Mr Martin said: “He said to me he was going away and he had a plan. I said ‘Don’t do anything stupid’.”

Since the breakdown of his marriage, Mr Cass had been living part of the time in a caravan at the garage which is mainly an MoT testing centre, but he was also living nearby with his mother and sister.

The owner of the garage, John Mayhew, said Mr Cass phoned his estranged wife and other family members in the moments before he took his daughters’ lives and killed himself. The Sun newspaper reported that he threatened to murder the toddlers during the call.

The garage remains cordoned off as forensic officers examine the caravan and the garage itself.

Paul Timberlake, a friend of Mr Cass said he was stunned about what had happened. “You would never have thought this of him,” he said. “He was such a nice bloke, he’d do anything for anyone and was very helpful and he absolutely loved his children.

“I saw him two weeks ago and he was fine but I know he was having wife trouble."

He added: “I’ve spoken to my daughter who is friends with the mother and she told me that this was the first weekend he’d been allowed to have them (the children) since the split.

“Everyone is stunned and no-one can believe it.”

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