Brothers found dead in father's car

May 4 2008 By Raymond Hainey

Brothers, 6 And 2, Found In Dad's Car

TWO young brothers were found dead in their father's parked car last night.

Horrified passersby found the children, aged two and six, slumped in the vehicle, in an isolated car park.

The children's father was said to have been pulled alive from the vehicle and rushed to hospital.

It is understood that police found a hose pipe hooked up to the car's exhaust. The vehicle was found in Crow Road, Lennoxtown, near Glasgow around 5.30pm yesterday.

The area, popular with walkers, was sealed off by police last night.

A police source revealed: "The children would have succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning far quicker than the father.

"He was alive when he was found and he is now in hospital under police guard."

Last night locals spoke of their shock at the gruesome find.

David Shepherd, 26, of Lennoxtown, said he saw the man in a Silver Vauxhall Vectra parked in the car park near Campsie Glen Golf Club when he drove past at 1pm.

He told the Sunday Mail: "I noticed the man. He was in the driver's seat and was smartly dressed in a white shirt and tie.

"As far as I could see he simply looked asleep.

"I drove by later about 4.30pm and the car was still there - but I didn't think anything was wrong."

David, who regularly walks his dog in the area, added: "When I heard what had really happened I felt sick - there's no way I could have known and I didn't see any children in the back of the car.

"It's a terrible tragedy and an appalling thing to have done to two children."

A spokeswoman at Campsie Glen Golf Club said last night: "The police told us there were two dead children and that a man had survived and been taken to hospital.

"This is a very quiet area and I suppose it is so isolated up there that it's just the sort of place somebody would choose to do something like that."

She added: "I can't understand how somebody could do something like that to two innocent children."

A police spokesman said: "We are treating as suspicious the deaths of two young boys aged two and six who were found dead within a parked car in Crow Road, Lennoxtown. We are following a definite line of inquiry." Carbon monoxide - the so-called "silent killer"

- has been responsible for the deaths of 42 Britons and the poisoning of a further 177 in the past year.

The gas is colourless, odourless and symptoms of poisoning are very similar to flu, with headaches, chest or stomach pains, drowsiness, nausea, lethargy and impaired mental ability.

Symptoms of mild poisoning include headaches, vertigo, and flu-like effects. Larger exposures can lead to significant toxicity of the central nervous system, heart and death.

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r.hainey@sundaymail.co.uk