Man killed his 'beloved' daughter

Gavin Hall killed the daughter closest to him

The possessive love of Gavin Hall contributed to his elder daughter's death, a court has heard.

Hall, 33, of Grey Street, Irchester, Northamptonshire, has been convicted of murdering three-year-old Amelia - known to most people as Millie, in a reaction to his wife's affair with a judge.

He left her younger sister, with whom he had never bonded, uninjured.

Hall tried to paint a picture for the court of a double-suicide attempt, in which Millie agreed to "come with Daddy" on his journey. He claimed she did not suffer at the end of her young life.

Wife's baby

He claimed she willingly took one of his antidepressant pills before she slowly and peacefully fell unconscious with the effects of the anaesthetic chloroform, as her mother and sister slept in their Northamptonshire home.

But the evidence provided in court told a different story. Hall admitted that scratch marks on Millie's face were caused by his fingernails as he forced the anaesthetic-soaked rag over her mouth.

Amelia died two days before her fourth birthday

The skin around her mouth and one of her eyes were burned by the chemical.

He admitted strangling the youngster with his left hand as she lay dying in his arms.

Although the amounts of antidepressant and chloroform could have been fatal, she was actually suffocated, the court heard.

All this was done to the little girl he called "my angel".

Hall had not initially wanted children and described his cats as his babies.

But, as the jury heard, Millie's birth changed his life.

"There was no doubt that Gavin loved Millie," wife, now known as Joanne Rainsley, told the court.

Suicide notes

Despite his pronounced love for Millie, Hall regarded his second daughter Lucy as his wife's baby, not his.

The evidence suggested he initially planned to kill both girls then himself. But he left Lucy asleep.

In his suicide notes, written on the night of the killing, he said to his wife: "I only took them so they would be loved, cherished and adored in the way you can but are unable to give."

Later in the rambling letters he adds: "Do not lament Millie, she needed me more. What little love you do show can now be for Lucy."