Town stunned by deaths in quiet street says MP

Conservative Stuart Andrew said the town, which has a population of little more than 30,000, had been left stunned by the deaths of Richard Smith, his wife Clair and their young sons Ben and Aaron.

Specialist police officers are expected to spend the rest of the week gathering evidence from the family home in Sheridan Way.

Fears that the house could have been filled with poisonous gas held up the investigation for several hours after the bodies were found in an upstairs bedroom at about 5.30pm on Sunday.

But a team of West Yorkshire detectives, led by Detective Superintendent Paul Taylor, was able to start work in earnest early yesterday after concerns about carbon monoxide and other hazardous substances proved unfounded.

The high-profile inquiry is expected to centre on the £180,000 detached house for several days.

Mr Andrew said: “Like the whole community, I am shocked and saddened by what has happened.

“It is a very close-knit community and for anything like this to happen is going to have a considerable impact.

“My thoughts are primarily with the extended family and I just wish the police every success now in their investigation to find out what has happened.”

Mr Andrew said he had been in frequent contact with police since he first heard about the tragedy on Sunday night.

“After hearing on the news that the bodies had been found I immediately contacted the local police and I have been in touch with them ever since. They are keeping me updated on their progress,” he added.

“It is just a tragedy and, whatever the outcome, the fact is that four lives have been lost.

“That will have a huge impact, particularly at this time of year.”

Fire investigators, biologists and police scientific support officers could be seen working in the house yesterday, searching the property for clues which might enable detectives to piece together how the family was killed.

Detectives are trying to establish where, and in what order, the four died.

The murder scene is located in a quiet cul-de-sac, close to a school about three minutes’ drive from Pudsey town centre.

The house, which has an integral garage, has a broken lounge window but there were few other signs to suggest anything out of the ordinary had happened.

Family photos could be seen inside. Two cars were parked outside.

Recent suicides caused by poisonous gases have shown why emergency services must approach with caution when attending reports of multiple deaths

In September last year, Stephen Lumb, 35, from Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, was found dead in a parked car alongside Joanne Lee, 34, from Great Notley, near Braintree, Essex.

The pair planned on an internet forum that they would take their lives together and are understood to have first met in person on the night they died.

An inquest heard that truck driver Mr Lumb drove 200 miles to Braintree to meet Miss Lee. The case drew attention to so-called “suicide sites” and raised a debate about the internet’s use for sharing “tips” and “methods” to carry out such pacts.

Lumb and Lee used detergent and chemicals, imported from the USA, to fill a car with the poisonous gas hydrogen sulphide. The inquest heard emergency services who were called to the scene found a parked car with signs in the windows that said: “Warning poisonous gas”.