Briton who cut his children's throats commits suicide

LYON - An Englishman who cut his children's throats with a kitchen knife in the French city of Lyon in May hanged himself in prison, an official said Tuesday.

Julian Stevenson killed his children - Mathew, 10, and Carla, five - apparently in a fit of rage over a custody battle with his French ex-wife.

He had fled on a pair of roller skates but was found moments later, walking in the street and covered in blood.

"He hanged himself on Monday in a sports hall reserved for inmates held in solitary confinement," a source at the local public prosecutor's office told AFP.

The murder had shocked the local community in suburban Lyon.

CCTV footage of Stevenson hours before the tragedy shows him buying his children sweets, his son and daughter clutching pink balloons.

A 48-year-old believed to have had a history of drinking, Stevenson's visitation rights were curtailed after a violent clash with his ex-wife in 2010.