Dad in "custody dispute" accused of killing son, daughter; named by police (Lyon, France)

Why was this piece of merde EVER allowed access to the kids? When are we going to finally rank the safety of children over the custody "rights "of violent alcoholic deadbeat sperm donors?

Dad is identified as JULIAN STEVENSON.

http://metro.co.uk/2013/05/20/british-father-appears-in-french-court-over-child-murders-3801851/

British father in French court over children found with their throats slit

Monday 20 May 2013 2:21 pm

A British father accused of killing his son and daughter by slitting their throats was today named by French police.

Julian Stevenson is due to appear in court in Lyon where a formal investigation into the murders was opened. It is alleged he has admitted cutting his children’s throats because of a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife.

He is said to have carried out the double murder at the family’s former apartment in the Saint-Priest suburb of Lyon, eastern France, before fleeing the scene on a pair of roller-skates.

Mr Stevenson was arrested on Saturday night, just hours after his ex-wife discovered the bodies of son Matthew, ten, and five-year-old daughter Carla.

This weekend was the first time Mr Stevenson had been allowed custody of the children since the couple divorced in 2010, a judicial source said.

But when he failed to return the children to their mother’s home as planned, she went to his house and saw him looking ‘panicked and angry’.

‘He was in the stairwell of the apartment block, and his clothes were covered in blood,’ said a neighbour. ‘He made off on a pair of roller-skates, leaving his car in the apartment block’s garage.’

The mother, who is French, spoke with prosecutors yesterday to provide them with details of her troubled five-year marriage to Mr Stevenson.

It is claimed the 47-year-old was a heavy drinker and had attacked his ex-wife in 2010, leading to his rights of access to the children being withdrawn.

His ex-wife, an accountant’s assistant, had won custody of the children after that incident and went to live in the Isere region of France, which is just to the south of Lyon and an easy drive or train journey away.

Until this weekend, it is claimed Mr Stevenson had only been allowed supervised access to his children.

Investigators will want to know who gave the father legal authority to care for his son and daughter.

Neighbours of the out-of-work father said the apartment block had been under police guard since details of the tragedy first emerged. A sign across the door contained the single word ‘homicide’, as forensic investigators combed the home for clues.

‘We’ve been told to keep away,’ said one neighbour, who did not to be named. ‘We used to see the man come and go, but until this weekend we hadn’t seen him with his children for years.

‘They suddenly turned up out of the blue, and then this. It is deeply shocking. We are all traumatised.’

Other local residents said the man was often seen at nearby shops and bars, and was well known for his ‘British accent’.

A neighbour who socialised with Mr Stevenson before his divorce said: ‘He and his wife used to be like any other young couple – they took the children to the park, they went out for dinner.

‘That all changed with the divorce, however – it was clearly very messy.’

According to a judicial source a knife, thought to be the murder weapon, was found at the flat.

The source said the alleged double murder was ‘clearly linked to a painful separation’ and ‘legal procedures concerning the right to access to the children which the father deemed insufficient.’

A Foreign Office spokesman said the matter was being investigated. ‘We are in touch with the French authorities and await the outcome of their investigation. We stand ready to provide consular assistance,’ he said.