The ex-wife of an Englishman who killed his two children had ‘regularly fought’ him having custody, it emerged today.
Julian Stevenson, 47, was arrested on Saturday after the bodies of Mathew, 10, and Carla, five, were found in his apartment in a suburb of Lyon, eastern France.
He is said to have slit their throats in a fit of rage before fleeing on a pair of roller-skates.
France’s judicial authorities are now trying to establish why Stevenson, who had a history of violence and alcoholism, had been left in charge of the children over the weekend.
See the CCTV below
Julian Stevenson, accused of killing his two children in Lyon, France, seen on CCTV footage taking the children, Mathew, 10, and Carla, 5, to the bakers to buy sweets hours before their deathsThey had been dropped off with Stevenson at the former family home on Friday evening - the first time he had been allowed unsupervised access in two years because of a bitter custody battle
His wife Stephanie was badly beaten up by him in 2005 and 2010, when an order was made preventing Stevenson seeing the children without a third party adult being present.
Yet CCTV footage shot at a bakery on Saturday shows Stevenson in sole custody of his son Mathew, 10, and five-year-old daughter Carla, five, as he buys them sweets.
The 2010 order was said to have been reversed over the past few weeks, meaning Stevenson was allowed to have the children to stay on Friday night for the first time in three years.
‘We need to know why this happened,’ said a judicial source. ‘Interviews with the mother make it clear that she had regularly fought him having care of the children.
More... Clutching a pink balloon after a trip to McDonald's and buying sweets, the children 'murdered by their father' hours later Briton who cut his son and daughter's throats in French apartment 'took them for a McDonald's and to buy sweets in hours before killing'‘She is still in a state of extreme shock, and is being cared for by clinical psychologists, and as well as family and friends.’
Yesterday Stevenson was formally placed under criminal investigation and is likely to be remanded in custody until his trial.
Another judicial source said: ‘We are presently holding back from the charge of premeditated murder but this could always change.’
The source said all the circumstances surrounding the horrific crime would be investigated over many months.