20/11/2003

Hermitage village in shock after family shooting horror

Neighbours of the three family members shot dead at their £1 million luxury mansion in Hermitage, Berkshire, have been leaving flowers close to the house in the village of Slanting Hill.

The three dead have been named locally as Alan Pemberton, a 48-year-old financial advisor, his 47-year-old estranged wife Julia and their 17-year-old son William.

Armed officers were dispatched to the area on Tuesday night when Mrs Pemberton dialled 999 and informed police that there was a man with a shotgun outside her house.

Police found the body of a teenage male lying in the driveway of the house.

Following a six-hour siege outside the Salting Hill mansion, armed officers who entered the house at around 1.45am on Wednesday morning discovered the bodies of a man and a woman.

Police said that all appeared to have died from gunshot wounds and that a firearm had been recovered from the house.

Although formal identifications have yet to be carried out, police confirmed that they are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

It is thought that Mr Pemberton shot his wife and son and then turned the gun on himself.

Neighbours said that the couple had been going through a particularly acrimonious divorce and that the house had been placed on the market recently.

The couple's 19-year-old daughter, Laura, a student who was not at home when the shooting occurred, has been informed of the tragedy.

(SP)

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