Father and two children 
all died of stab wounds

The bodies of Michael Pedersen, 51, his son Ben, seven, and daughter Freya, six, were found next to a Saab 900SE convertible car in a lane at Newton Stacey, near Andover, Hampshire, on Sunday.

Grahame Short, coroner for central Hampshire, heard evidence confirming the identities of the three deceased.

The Winchester hearing was also told that post-mortem examinations showed that all three died of stab wounds.

Mr Short adjourned the inquest to be resumed on a provisional date of December 5.

Mr Pedersen was a former army sergeant in the Household Cavalry unit that was hit by an IRA nail bomb in Hyde Park in 1982. He had recently split from his wife Erica, who lives in Ashford, Middlesex.

Mr Pedersen, who had been living in Chertsey, Surrey, had taken the children to visit his father in Andover but failed to return the two children.