MURDER INQUEST: Father had researched how to cut someone's throat in days before he stabbed wife and daughters to death

The bodies of Jitendra Lad, 49, his wife, Dukshaben Lad, 44, and their daughters, Trisha, 19, and Nisha, 16, were found at their four-bed detached home in Clayton last October, in what a coroner described as a "scene of unimaginable horror".

Mr Lad was found hanging and the other members of the family had all been stabbed in their bed's with a scuba-diving knife.

A coroner was told how the daughters and their mother were probably killed in the early hours of the morning of Saturday, October 25, but Mr Lad was spotted by a number of people over that weekend and probably killed himself on the Monday afternoon, two days later.

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The hearing was told how Mr Lad had no medical history of mental illness and relatives and friends said they appeared to be a normal, loving family.

In a statement read to the coroner's court, Mr Lad's brother Raman said: "There was nothing about the family that was anything other than normal and close."

He said: "I can think of no reason at all for what's happened. They were just a normal and happy family."

But Detective Sergeant Duncan Jackson told the hearing in Bradford how Mr Lad had accessed the internet on his phone in the weeks before his death.

Det Sgt Jackson said the searches indicated he had researched depression and, just days before the tragedy, he had made searches "related to how to cut someone's throat and executions".

The officer also told the court that Mr Lad's line manager at Bradford Council, Stephen Beanland, had told him about problems Mr Lad was having at work.

Mr Beanland has told police about how the IT worker was promoted in August 2013 and he found it much more stressful than his previous role.

He said that in September 2014 Mr Lad came to him saying he should not have been promoted and asked about reverting to his previous position.

But Mr Beanland told officers that he asked Mr Lad to go and think about it with his family over a weekend and he came back and never mentioned it again.

He said Mr Lad had previously talked about the stresses of looking after a father with dementia and a mother who was also ill.

Det Sgt Jackson also told the hearing how Mr Lad had told a woman on holiday in Ibiza two months before his death about how unhappy he was with his life and imminently turning 50.

Trisha, Jitendra, Duksha and Nisha Lad

The inquest heard how the bodies were discovered at the house in Blackberry Way when Mrs Lad's father became concerned no-one was answering their phones and went round with a neighbour.

The coroner was told how Mrs Lad and the two girls suffered multiple stab wounds and would have died quickly.

Home office pathologist Brian Rogers said there was strong evidence Mrs Lad and Nisha were attacked as they slept.

But he said there was evidence Trisha put up some kind of fight. They were all found in bed covered by their duvets.

Dr Rogers said Mrs Lad had suffered five different wounds, of which four were deep stab injuries which severed arteries in her neck and her chest.

The pathologist said Trisha suffered 33 different wounds, including to her neck and chest, and hand put up a "considerable fight".

Her sister, Nisha, suffered eight different wounds, Dr Rogers said.

Bradford Coroner Martin Fleming said Mr Lad was a "much loved son and brother" and "outwardly was a loving husband and doting father".

He said the two girls were the focal point of Mrs Lad's life and described them as "intelligent and dearly loved by their family".

Trisha was in the second year of a biochemistry degree at Leeds University and her sister had just finished her GCSEs. Mrs Lad also worked for Bradford Council, in the school admissions section.

Mr Fleming said they appeared to be a "model family" and had tickets booked to go to London to watch a show by the TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh.

The coroner said they died "under the most distressing circumstances imaginable".

He said: "Police arrived at the scene of unimaginable horror."

Mr Fleming said he was sure Mr Lad had intended to take his own life.

Floral tributes outside the family's home in Blackberry Way, Clayton, last October

There was evidence he had tried to take an overdose of painkilling tablets during the weekend and he was also witnessed driving to the 12th floor of a Bradford city centre car park on a number of occasions on the Saturday, after he killed his family.

He stressed there was no medical evidence of Mr Lad having clinical depression and no sign of financial problems.

And he talked about how the family had been celebrating Diwali with relatives just hours before the killings.

He said: "The subsequent events are impossible to reconcile."

Speaking to the more than a dozen family members who packed the court he acknowledged the tragedy had left them "stunned" and struggling to come to terms with what had happened.

Mr Fleming said it was "impossible to reconcile" what Mr Lad did with what he knew about him.

Recording a verdict of suicide on Mr Lad and unlawful killing on the other members of his family, Mr Fleming said: "We will never know for sure what was going through Jitendra's mind at that time."

Senior investigating officers (SIO) Detective Superintendent Simon Atkinson, of West Yorkshire Police said after the inquests: "Today has seen the culmination of an eight-month police inquiry which began on the night of October 27 2014 when West Yorkshire Police attended at the Lad family address in Clayton, Bradford, having received a call from family members.

"While today we have heard the coroner's verdicts as to how the four members of the Lad family died, the grieving process and loss for the extended family will stay with them for many years to come. They will be missed by a great many people.

"The family through myself as the SIO would now wish to be left in peace to come to terms with their tragic loss and grief and will not be answering any questions."