Per reports, the father, Darren, was suffering from depression when he was looking after his 6-year-old daughter, Keziah, while her mother Nikki was at work for an hour. He sent her a chilling text 25 minutes after she left the house. According to the court documents, the father agreed to look after his daughter at her home while Nikki went out for work, and she described how Darren seemed ‘different’. Nikki reportedly said said: “He seemed different, he was quiet. He always asked me if I had thought about getting back with him but he didn’t ask. I felt he wasn’t happy.

 “I was only going to be gone an hour and thought it would be fine. I asked if he felt alright and he said he felt unwell, I said I could take Keziah, he said he was feeling unwell but would be fine. According to the police officials, the 6-year-old child was drowned by her father and placed in a bed next to their pet dogs he also killed before hanging himself in a bid to punish his wife for leaving him, an inquest heard today. The father-of-one also killed their two dogs and his daughter’s lifeless body was found with her arms wrapped around her beloved pets called Arnie and Maximus.

Both the dogs were soaking wet and it is believed the father drowned them both. Per reports, the father was seeing a therapist over his mental health, and revealed in sessions how he had nightmares about murdering his wife and daughter. Nikki reportedly separated from Darren, her husband of 12 years, and he was living with his mother at her home. 

Just 30 minutes after Nikki left Darren’s home, she received the text message from Darren but was unable to read it straight away as she was driving. She pulled over and read the message, which was not read out in full during the inquest, after seeing the first line said ‘congratulations, you have finally…’ The last line of the message said ‘you have taken everything and I will leave you with just memories’. In her statement she said she believed his long text message was prepared the night before or the morning of the incident as Darren, who was dsylexic, had used words he would not normally be able to spell.