A "jealous and frustrated" man shot his former partner and their two-year-old daughter dead in a violent altercation just hours before they were due to go to court over custody of the toddler, a court heard on Wednesday.
David Oakes, 50, allegedly went to the house where Christine Chambers, 38, lived where he subjected his ex-partner to "degrading assaults" over several hours and blasted both her and their daughter Shania with a shotgun.
Chambers' other daughter, who was 10 at the time, escaped from the house in Braintree, Essex, and ran for help after the incident on June 6 last year.
Oakes, of Canney Road, Steeple, Essex, was treated in hospital for a gunshot injury following the incident, and later charged with two counts of murder.
He appeared in Chelmsford Crown Court at the start of his trial today, wearing a suit and with visible scarring to one side of his face, but was not in court for the opening of the case.
Prosecutor Orlando Pownall QC told the court Oakes had met Chambers, who had four children, including their daughter Shania, in July 2005.
But after a "tempestuous" relationship the couple split up in April 2011 and were involved in legal proceedings over who Shania would live with.
They were due to attend a residence hearing on June 6, but in the early hours Oakes allegedly arrived at the house in Bartram Avenue, Braintree, with a double-barrelled shotgun, an axe, petrol and other implements.
"It is the prosecution's case that the defendant, fuelled by jealousy, frustrated by the fact that his relationship with Christine Chambers was over and that he would only have limited access to Shania, determined that he would kill them and then himself ," Pownall told the court.
"He succeeded in the first part of his ambitions but failed in his attempt on his own life."
The court heard Oakes allegedly attacked Chambers, hitting her and forcing her to cut clumps of her own hair off, before shooting her several times, as well as blasting their daughter in the face.
Pownall said: "When he arrived at about midnight Christine Chambers and her daughters were in bed watching television.
"The defendant brought a double-barrelled shotgun and cartridges to the address, together with a bag containing an axe, a bottle with petrol in it and various other implements.
"Over a sustained period of time, something in the region of three hours, Oakes subjected Christine Chambers to degrading assaults," Pownall said.
Chambers' 10-year-old daughter - Shania's half sister - witnessed Oakes' attack, the court heard, but escaped out of the bedroom window during the ordeal, fleeing over a flat roof and going to her father's house nearby.
Police were called to the scene and heard several gunshots. When they got into the house they found Shania, who had been shot in the forehead at point blank range, and her mother who had been shot three times - once in the left thigh, once in her right knee and once on her right side, causing a "swathe of destruction". Neither could be resuscitated.
Oakes was found semi-conscious after apparently blasting himself in the face, and was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery.
He was arrested on June 19 but was not interviewed before he was charged with two counts of murder.
Pownall described Oakes as "violent and domineering" and a jealous man, while he said Chambers, although not blameless in their arguments, was a "doting mother".
The prosecutor told the court 50-year-old Oakes claimed a different story to what is alleged by the prosecution.
He said he had gone to the house that day by prior arrangement where he and Chambers had a prolonged, and at times violent, discussion, and on at least two occasions she had attacked him with scissors and knives.
He claimed he left the bedroom, Pownall said, adding: "As he came to return to the room whilst in the vicinity of the landing a shot was fired from within the room which hit and fatally injured Shania Chambers.
"The defendant did not shoot her."
Oakes claimed he had gone into the bedroom where he struggled with Chambers, leading to both her and him being shot.
But Pownall today told the court that was a: "A contrivance, a distortion of the truth."
He said a total of seven shots were fired, which would have meant the gun had to be reloaded and there was nothing to suggest Chambers would know how to do that.
He also said Shania had been shot at point blank range, with the muzzle of the gun to her forehead, so had not been shot from inside the bedroom.
The prosecutor told the court the last shot fired had been the one the defendant allegedly shot at his own face.
He said Oakes had previously said, more than once: "If I can't have you, no-one else will".