DAD Ceri Fuller knifed his three children to death before throwing himself off a cliff.

Post mortem results show the 35-year-old stabbed Sam and daughters, Rebecca and Charlotte before killing himself in a remote Shropshire quarry.

And as communities across the Dean united in grief, an investigation was under way to find out why the Milkwall man described a gentle, sensitive father murdered his own children.

Police found a knife at the scene and yesterday they broke the news to family members that the children had definitely all died from stab wounds.

Artist Mum Ruth is being cared for by grandparents Ron and Anne Tocknell, who live in Lydney.

Ruth, 34, said: "I don't have the words to describe how l feel at the moment.

"All l would ask is that l be left alone to grieve for my family."

Ceri is believed to have disappeared with Lakers pupil Sam, 12, eight-year-old Rebecca, known as Becka, and seven-year-old Charlotte, known as Charlie, on Wednesday night or Thursday morning after Ruth posted a message on her Facebook page saying she had been through a midlife crisis.

Police say he was in Leominster, scene of the couple's wedding pictures, at midday and was seen in Welshpool around 3.30pm on Thursday.

A member of the family reported Ceri and the children missing on Friday.

An hour after an appeal went out on Monday morning, four bodies were discovered in close proximity in a disused quarry at Poles Coppice, Pontesbury Hill, near Shrewsbury, in Shropshire. A knife was found nearby.

Resident Raymond Woodhouse, 74, called police because Ceri's red Land Rover Freelander had been there since Thursday.

The family lived in Milkwall and neighbour Peter Ayres, 52, was among those who said the couple seemed not to want to get involved in village life.

Some say Ruth was seen pacing outside the house on Thursday.

"From what I could see they were a nice family, very quiet and rarely went out," he said.

"The kids would come home from school and go straight into the garden to play.

"They were nice old-fashioned kids. There was no swearing and they always played nicely together."

Robert Parker's garden backs onto the family home and he had agreed to help Ceri build a dividing wall to replace an old fence as part of the dad's five-year renovation plan.

"Ruth was quiet and never spoke," he said. "Although Ceri was quiet, sometimes he would stop and talk.

"The kids were really chatty and were always out in the garden playing on the trampoline. Even when it was raining you could hear them out there laughing and playing.

"Ceri seemed quite placid and you'd never hear him shouting at the kids.

"But what sort of a man would do that? The kids were so lovely and happy, I cannot believe anybody could harm them. They were beautiful kids and would always talk and say hello."

Ceri's father David says the family are at a loss to explain his actions.

Det Chief Insp Neil Jamieson, of West Mercia Police, described it as a tragic family situation and some reports suggest a family illness was causing disagreements at home.

Facebook posts by Ruth suggest the couple went through a rocky patch about six years ago but they worked through it and wed in August 2009.

Both have family across the Forest, Ceri's mother Geraldine, 64, and stepfather Geoffrey Petheram live in Blakeney and sister Abigail Jones lives with husband Matthew in Bream.

Both Ceri and Ruth attended Whitecross School. Ceri took four A-Levels at Royal Forest of Dean College before going to the University of Huddersfield. Sam was born in Huddersfield but the family moved back and Ceri worked as a production supervisor at Lydney company Glatfelter.

Officers in West Mercia and Gloucestershire are still piecing together events leading up to the tragedy.

A post mortem was being carried out on Ceri and police were trawling CCTV and appealing for sightings.