A former Army warrant officer in the Scottish army is believed to have shot dead his two young children, his wife and then himself.

Police broke into the family house after they were alerted by concerned friends and discovered the lifeless bodies of bodies of former sergeant-major Anthony Smith, his wife Kay, who was in her 30s, and their two children Adam, five, and Gemma, three. 

Smith is thought to have killed his family with a shotgun at their home in Camberley, Surrey.

Police Superintendent John Beavis said: "We have no reason at this stage to believe anyone else was involved and it is likely that we are investigating three murders and a suicide."

Four dead in shooting

Monday, 5 February, 2001

February 6, 2001

A former sergeant in the Coldstream Guards shot his wife and two young children to death before turning his gun on himself.

Last night, as stunned neighbours asked what could have prompted the bloodbath at the £350,000 home, detectives were delving into the financial affairs of 34-year- old bodyguard Anthony Smith.

Friends believe he may have 'overstretched' himself when he bought the five-bedroom house in the Surrey stockbroker belt last summer.

Police broke into the home on an estate in Camberley yesterday after worried friends reported that milk and newspapers were piling up on the doorstep.

The powerfully-built, popular ex- soldier, who once regaled them with tales of guarding the Queen, Prince Charles and other members of the Royal Family, had not been seen for at least three days. Neither had his wife or the two young children they both doted on.

Inside shocked officers found a scene of what one described as 'appalling carnage'. Three-year-old Gemma Smith, her brother Adam, five, their mother Kay, who was in her early 30s, and Mr Smith, lay dead in the upstairs rooms.

He had shot them each once in the head before taking his own life. A shotgun was also found.

The family, who were originally from Newcastle upon Tyne, moved last June to the home in Heathside Park - an estate of only 39 houses behind iron gates.

They had moved from a much smaller property ten miles away in the quiet village of Rowledge, near Farnham.

Neighbours said that Mr Smith had always kept up an appearance of being wealthy. He even boasted that he had a Porsche 'in the garage' - although no one had ever seen it.

He left the infantry regiment five years ago. One of his most recent jobs was in the export department of a Peugeot dealership in nearby Aldershot which specialised in shipping military cars to international Army bases.

He left Peugeot after just six months when he was offered the chance to use his military expertise working as a bodyguard with a London-based security firm.

A former neighbour in Rowledge, Graham Senior, said: 'They were a lovely family.

'He was a big man in all ways. He was stockily built and was also a boisterous character, a bit of a lad.

'Tony always made out that he had lots of money and I wondered what he was doing around here. I never saw the Porsche that he bragged about.

'Kay was very quiet and often stayed at home although she would join him on his overseas trips to motorshows on behalf of Peugeot.

'He was a generous man and would always bring me back a bottle of wine when he went on a foreign trip.

'He used to like cooking and if ever he cooked too much he would pop next door to me and bring me a plate of food. For someone like me who lives alone, they were ideal neighbours.'

He said Mrs Smith did not want to move from the area because she wanted their son to stay at the same school.

'In the end they moved anyway,' said Mr Senior. 'Tony was a bit fed up with trying to find another place in Rowledge and settled for Camberley.

'However, it was a bit of a surprise because the house they lived in at Rowledge was very tiny and suddenly they moved to a big expensive house.'

The chairman of the Camberley estate's residents' association, May Harris, said the couple were adoring parents.

'They were lovely little children and their parents worshipped them,' she said.

'They were always out at the front of the house playing and would always smile and give you the time of day. It's a terrible tragedy.'

Standing outside the electronic gates of the estate, Detective Superintendent John Beavis said: 'We had a call from friends. There was concern that the family had not been seen for the whole weekend.

'We had to forcibly break in to the house and officers found two infants, a male and a female, inside. It is a very tragic scene.

'We are open-minded at the moment but we are not looking for anyone else in connection with the inquiry at this stage.'

He estimated that the tragedy had probably happened on Friday.

Pat Pearce, Mayor of Surrey Heath, who met the family last year, said: 'I cannot imagine the state of mind he must have been.

'I am very shocked, amazed and horrified. It is sad that noone has helped the man before this happened.'

As a Coldstream Guard, Mr Smith moved between Windsor Castle and St James's Palace, London, where he carried out ceremonial services for the Queen and the Prince of Wales.

The regiment, currently based at Windsor, is the oldest continuously serving unit in the British Army.

Its troops served in the Gulf War and in Bosnia in 1993-4, although the MoD was unable to give more details of Mr Smith's service record.

The bodies of the Smith family were found by police at their home in Camberley.