'You'll never see him again': Jilted father's chilling message to mother before he killed his son, 6, then committed suicide
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 1:34 PM on 8th December 2010
Little Chris Hall, six, was killed by his father in their family home in Dorset
A jilted father killed his six-year-old son and then himself after snatching the boy from his ex-partner and chillingly telling her: ‘You’ll never see him again.’
Chris Hall, 52, had feared he was about to lose his son, also called Chris, in a custody battle after former common-law wife Rachel Wild left him and started a relationship with another man, an inquest heard.
Miss Wild told how her former partner 'lost it' when he spotted her new lover in her car the last time she dropped her son off at Hall's house.
The keen body-builder dragged the youngster from her and told her: ‘I will take him to a place where you will never see him again.’
She never saw her son alive again.
Two days later the 35-year-old received a note from her ex telling her to come to the former family home.
She rushed to the £300,000 property and let herself in but then left after a few minutes because it felt ‘eerily quiet’.
She called the police and officers arrived and discovered the father and son - known as Big Chris and Little Chris - dead in bed, lying side by side.
Mr Hall, a handyman, had given her diabetic son a fatal mixture of insulin, morphine, and sleeping pills before overdosing on painkillers.
The inquest heard Mr Hall, a former gravedigger and postman, and Miss Wild had lived happily with their son in Poole, for several years.
But in May this year she walked out on him and began a relationship with another man, Christian Bryant.
At about the same time Mr Hall’s business began to fail and a cafe the couple co-owned hit financial problems.
Little Chris was living with his father ahead of a custody court case. On August 16, Miss Wild had access with him before dropping him off at home.
She said: ‘I was in the back seat of the car with Little Chris.
‘He didn’t want to go back and when we got round the corner we noticed Chris leaning against the wall.
Calculating: Chris Hall, 52, 'lost it' when he spotted Rachel Wild's new lover when she dropped off their son
‘I told Christian to pull over on the other side of the road.
‘Chris stormed over, opened Little Chris’ door and dragged him out at started shouting abuse.
‘It was aimed at me in anger. He said ‘you’ve been sleeping with this man, you’ve been sleeping with him in front of Little Chris.’ ‘His face was just anger. I knew then that I wasn’t going back, (to him). I think he had lost it.
‘He said ‘basically, you’ll never see Little Chris again, I will make sure of it.’ He said: ‘I will take him to a place where you will never see him again.’ ‘In thought he meant was going to take him to his brother Duncan’s.
‘Christian was crying because it was very hurtful and loud and I was just basically shocked and upset.
‘I felt like I wanted to go back and get Little Chris but you have got to do things by the law. I had to write down everything that Chris said to me.’
Two days later a letter arrived from Chris at the cafe she ran with her brother. He opened it and showed it to his sister.
The contents of the letter were not disclosed at the hearing but they were instructions for Miss Wild to go to the three bed house in Queens Road straight away.
She said: ‘The door was left unlocked.
‘The dogs were quiet and happy to see me and were licking my face, I knew then that something was wrong. I opened the kitchen door and popped my head in.
‘I thought the dogs were acting like someone was in the house because it was odd behaviour. I thought maybe Chris was upstairs with Little Chris and saying ‘ssshhh, we don’t want mummy to find us.
‘It felt eerie and I didn’t like it.’
She called the police when neighbours told her that they had not seen the father and son for a while.
The Bournemouth inquest heard that Mr Hall had suffered from depression in the past and had slit his wrists on three occasions.
Mr Hall, whose brother is the famous London-based clothes designer Nigel Hall, had met Miss Wild while she worked as a check-out girl at an Asda supermarket.
Little Chris attended Courthill First School in Poole and was a big fan of the cartoon character Ben 10.
The inquest continues.
