Tragedy ... the balcony of the flat where the two children's bodies were discovered
A DIVORCED British man has been arrested in France on suspicion of slitting the throats of his two young children.
The bodies of the five-year-old girl and her ten-year-old brother were discovered in their father's apartment yesterday afternoon in a Lyon suburb.
The 48-year-old man was arrested after his former wife spotted him on the stairs to his flat with blood-stained clothes, local reports said.
Several witnesses reportedly spotted the man fleeing the scene on roller skates, with blood still all over his clothes.
Slaying ... the kids were found dead in the man's flat in Lyon's Saint-Priest suburb
The father – who is said to have recently gone through a difficult divorce with his ex-wife – was reportedly taken into custody following a manhunt yesterday evening.
Today, the Foreign Office was “urgently” investigating afte reports of the horrific slayings.
The mother is said to be too traumatised to talk to police but “her testament will prove crucial”, sources said.
As well as problems with alcohol, the man was also known to have physically abused his ex-wife in the past, according to reports.
Crime scene ... the block of flats in Lyon
Gruesome ... several witnesses 'spotted the bloodied man fleeing on roller skates'
A knife, thought to be the murder weapon, was found in the man’s flat in Saint-Priest, a suburb to the south-east of Lyon, reports say.
One former neighbour said: “The people who live here are all in a state of shock.”
The mother, an assistant accountant, had won custody of the children following her divorce and had left to live in Isere, a region to the south-east of Lyon.
Meanwhile the unemployed father continued to live alone in the flat, local media said.
The man had visitation rights but only in the presence of another person, according to sources.
Flat of horror ... the door of the appartment where the bodies were discovered
The youngsters arrived at their father’s flat on Friday – said to have been the first time he had brought his children home to his apartment.
A source said: “It was the first time since the divorce that the man was allowed to be alone with the children.”
Reports described how their mother had been worried about the visit and returned to the flat.
It was then that she saw her ex-husband stained with blood in the stairwell of the building and raised the alarm, local media reported.
The man was later detained in the Montplaisir area of Lyon and taken into custody.
Neighbours said the couple had separated several years ago.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the reports and we are urgently looking into them."
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