He had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Danielle, instead submitting a manslaughter plea claiming he killed her to complete a suicide pact.

Ian Wood (born 1949) began renting Ughill Hall, an 18-room mansion on the outskirts of Bradfield, with his mistress Danielle Ledez in April 1986 after leaving his wife Margaret and his three children.

[7][5] Wood then proceeded to play hide-and-seek with Ledez's daughter Stephanie (aged 3), after which he led her into Christopher's bedroom and shot her twice in the head, killing her instantly.

[2] Christopher was rushed to Sheffield Children's Hospital with severe head injuries and was placed on life support after surviving without medical attention for 21 hours.

[13][11] On 23 September 1986, a police press conference was interrupted when Wood made a series of telephone calls to Brenda Tunney, a reporter for the local newspaper Sheffield Weekly Gazette.

[17] The police discussed the mental state of Wood with a consultant psychiatrist on the same day due to the firearm confiscations and the phone calls.

[18] The following day, Wood made three more calls to Tunney and threatened suicide in one of them; he claimed he killed because of "love and desperation, not anger and hate".

[19][20] On 25 September, a receptionist at the Automobile Association office in Barnstaple reported that a man matching Wood's description had requested an international driving licence.

[20][24][25] He left a note with a member of staff at the cathedral shortly beforehand informing them of his intention to commit suicide, which prompted them to call the police.

[26] Wood decided not to object to the extradition request after a brief meeting with his family and was confident that he would receive a fair trial in a British court.

[23] Wood also faced a specimen charge of stealing £84,000 from clients he represented in property deals,[40][41] although the prosecution claimed the sum could have been £150,000.

[42][43] However, Geoffrey Rivlin, leading the prosecution, told the court that in such a situation the onus is on the killer to prove that a suicide pact was made.

[44] On 31 July 1987, the jury at Sheffield Crown Court unanimously rejected Wood's claim that he killed Ledez as part of a suicide pact and found him guilty of murder.

[50] Wood's ten-piece gun collection had been confiscated twice; firstly in December 1985 over fears from his wife and doctor of deteriorating mental health and alcoholism, and secondly because of an administrative error in renewing his licence.

[50] Bill Michie, the Member of Parliament for Sheffield Heeley, campaigned for stricter firearm ownership regulations, such as psychiatric assessment of prospective gun owners, in response to the murders.

[52][54] In October 1986, Michie asked Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher if the government would change its firearms policy in response to the murders, to which she responded: "The Home Office ... will keep that matter under permanent review".