KILLINGS: TREE MAN IN PLEA FOR HELP

Source : 24/02/1990 Northampton Chronicle and Echo

The man being quizzed by police over the Beaconsfield triple killing, came to the Northamptonshire based Jesus Fellowship for help several times last year.

The bricklayer (30), who has a history of psychiatric problems, visited the Bugbrooke HQ but was referred to a mental hospital by Fellowship members.

The man stayed up a tree 15 hours, keeping police at bay by threatening to hang himself, after the bodies of Anthony Rawlings, his wife Barbara and their 15-year-old son Paul were discovered stabbed to death at their home beside woods in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire on Thursday afternoon.

'He clearly had many problems and when he called at one of our houses unexpectedly he was admitted to a mental hospital' said Jesus Fellowship spokeswoman Liz Donovan today.

'He was under hospital care for five weeks and our members have not seen him for many months'

The man (30) was today still being questioned by police. The man, from Woburn Green, Buckinghamshire was never a member of the fellowship, said Miss Donovan.

'He has never been a resident at any of our houses,' she added.

'We have many members but we have records of all of them and although he met several of them he never joined the fellowship.'

'We are a genuine Christian Church operating according to the creeds and practices of Christianity.'