A mother and her teenage daughter were found “hand in hand” under a sheet in the family’s master bedroom after being killed by their husband and father.

Fifty-year-old Jonathan Anthony fled to France to see his lover before being found dead himself, an inquest heard today.

Lisa, 47, and Ava Anthony, 14, were found dead at their home in Simmons Gate in Esher on June 29 this year.

Mrs Anthony had been strangled to death, and her daughter Ava, a pupil at Guildford High School, had been suffocated.

June 30: Bodies found in Esher home believed to be mother and daughter

July 1: Could debts of Esher family explain triple deaths?

July 3: Mother found dead at home in Esher 'may have been suffocated'

Simon Wickens, coroner for Surrey, concluded today at Woking Coroner’s Court that the pair had been “unlawfully killed” by the husband of Mrs Anthony and father of Ava.

Their bodies had been found placed side by side and with their hands entwined on a double bed in the family home.

They were covered only by a sheet when police officers forced their way into the house on June 29 at around 10am.

Their bodies are thought to have been there for some time, and were discovered the day after the body of Mr Anthony was found by police in Aix-en-Provence, near Marseilles, on June 28.

The family were last seen together at a pub in Ockham on June 16 to celebrate the 21st birthday of Mrs Anthony’s niece, where there appeared to be “no friction” or cause for concern with the family’s behaviour, the inquest heard.

Mrs Anthony and her daughter were both last seen alive the following day on June 17 when Mrs Anthony’s mother and housekeeper visited the home.

Ava had also attended a play rehearsal at her school that night before being picked up by her father.

Mr Anthony had texted Mrs Anthony’s niece, Paige Barber, and the family’s housekeeper Bianca Hall within minutes of each other that evening telling them he was “surprising the girls” with a family holiday for a week.

He told them to “keep it under your hat”.

He also emailed Guildford High School telling them that there had been a "family tragedy" and that Ava would not be in school for the rest of that week, nor for the following week.

Mr Anthony then fled the family home in his Mercedes, driving to a hotel in Lille in France to visit his lover Maiva Mace, whom he had reportedly been in a relationship with for several months.

Mr Anthony had told her he had never been married nor had a child, and said he was a businessman who was the head of Hugo Boss.

After travelling to Paris and Nice with Ms Mace, he then visited his friend Mustafa Kura in Aix-en-Provence on June 27 following a message telling him he was “in trouble” and needed money wired to him.

He told Mr Kura he had been in a car crash in the UK which had killed his wife and daughter when he was drink driving.

He added he had brought their bodies home, washed them, and placed them in their final resting place on the master bed “hand in hand”.

Mr Kura had convinced him to speak to police the following morning, but was forced to call them himself after Mr Anthony locked himself in Mr Kura’s bathroom and slit his throat.

The Mercedes that Mr Anthony claimed he had crashed was found last week in France in a "reasonable" condition, with CCTV footage showing the car to appear undamaged as he travelled to France.

Concluding the evidence read out in court today, Mr Wickens described the deaths as a “tragic case of lives lost for no good reason”.

He said: “It will be clear to those listening that in the Anthony home there was a husband, a father and a killer. It is clear to me this was all one person.

"They died at the hands of an assailant.

“I am satisfied that Lisa Jane Anthony and Ava Bonnie Anthony were killed unlawfully.”

The Daily Mail reported earlier this year that Mr and Mrs Anthony, who ran an events company together, faced outstanding county court judgements which totalled £87,463, according to public documents.

They had also reportedly tried to rent out their million pound home last year to raise money.