‘Family annihilators’ often unknown to authorities

A majority of fathers who wipe out their families are not previously known to the police or mental health or drug services, according to a study.

The men are typically employed and have been successful, but reportedly cannot deal with “the changing nature of men in society”.

The study, thought to be the first into the phenomenon of “family annihilation”, was conducted at Birmingham City University and is due to be published this week.

The study said family annihilation was where a parent — predominantly a father — kills his children and often a partner or ex-partner and then attempts suicide, often successfully.

The report follows the violent deaths of brothers Eoghan, 10, and Ruairi Chada, 5, two weeks ago. They had been abducted by their father, Sanjeev, on July 28. He crashed his car at high speed into a wall, but survived.

“Family annihilators are not known to the criminal justice system or mental health services or drug counsellors,” said David Wilson, research leader.

“They are seen as nice guys, are employed, often very successful.” The researchers identified four types of ‘annihilators’:

nSelf-righteous: The most common type, seek to blame the partner or ex-partner. They are often “very controlling, very narcissistic, and dramatic”;

nParanoid: They kill their family in response to an external threat, either real or imagined, such as social services taking away their children;

nDisappointed: The family has let the father down for failing to fulfil his view of what a family should be;

nAnomic: The father, typically economically successful, loses his source of income due to circumstances out of his control. Instead of facing the consequences, he regains control by killing his family.

While the research stopped short of saying the murders reflected a crisis in masculinity, Prof Wilson said: “What links the four types is masculinity and the changing nature of man and changing nature of woman in society. The responsibility lies with men.”