Prayers at parish church for family of killer police inspector

Toby Day is thought to have killed his primary school teacher wife Samantha and youngest daughter Genevieve in a frenzied attack at their home just days after he was sacked.

He also attacked their other children Kimberley, 15, and Adam, 13, before taking his own life on Thursday at their home in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. Kimberley and Adam were taken to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham and are in a stable condition.

Yesterday, a sermon and a statement on the incident were read at All Saints’ Parish Church in Oakham, Rutland, which Day and his family regularly attended.

Canon Lee Francis-Dehqani, vicar at All Saints, who has known the Day family since arriving at the church seven years ago, said: “The service was very beautiful. We offered prayers for all of the family.

“People are clearly very shocked and distressed by these very tragic events and as Christians it is our job to pray for this family, who are very well known in our community.”

He said he was offering “ongoing pastoral support” to the teenage children who survived the attack.

Funeral arrangements for those who died in Thursday’s incident were yet to be “finalised”.

All Saints’ assistant priest Hildred Crowther said in her sermon: “As we pray for the souls of Sam, Toby and Genny, and give thanks for their lives and all that they meant to us and to their families, we also thank God that Kimberley and Adam have survived and pray for them in this, the most difficult time in their lives.

“It is impossible for us to imagine their pain as they absorb the news that their lives will never be the same again.”

The attack in the semi-detached family home is believed to have been fuelled by Day’s dismissal from Leicestershire Police the previous Thursday for misusing force computers.

The force has declined to comment on reports that Day suspected his wife was having an affair and had used the police computer system to search for information.

They also refused to comment on whether he had worked on the case of Aram Aziz, who killed his wife and two young children before killing himself in February.

Police confirmed Day was fired for “matters concerning honesty and integrity”.