Ex-soldier who killed his children feared he had PTSD, inquest hears The inquest heard that he had attacked his wife in front of their children, declaring her an "unfit mother" and pushing her to the floor, breaking her shoulder. As a result, he was arrested and banned from going near the family home. But Mrs Pedersen revealed that before he left, he ransacked the house, taking a chef's knife from a kitchen drawer. She said his actions had "bugged" her as he did not cook but admitted that she had thought nothing more about it. Police confirmed that the knife was one of those found at the scene of the killings. Mrs Pedersen told the inquest that by the summer, their ten year marriage had deteriorated. "There was constant shouting, accusing me of things," he said. He was constantly shouting but there were quite a few quite nasty outbursts. Pedersen's younger brother, Robert, told the coroner he had been "angry" that his marriage had broken down. He said he also felt that the police had not listened to him when he was questioned on suspicion of assault and disclosed that he had been having financial problems after his work as a lorry driver dried up. But Mr Pedersen told the hearing that his brother had "worshipped the ground Ben and Freya walked on." He said Pedersen had rarely spoken about the July 1982 bomb blast that killed four soldiers and seven horses. Sefton survived, despite having 34 shrapnel wounds and needing eight hours of surgery, and both Pedersen and the horse became household names, hailed as symbols of the struggle against the IRA. But the inquest heard that on September 3, Pedersen had been to see his family doctor and complained that he was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder brought on by his 21 years in the Army. No traces of alcohol, antidepressants or other drugs were found in his system. His father, Brian, said: "He had hard breaks in his life. But what really hurt him more than anything else was when he was told to leave his house and children and Erica, who he loved in his own way. I do not think he could bear to live without any of these things. Central Hampshire Coroner Grahame Short recorded verdicts of unlawful killing for the children and suicide for Pedersen. "What happened that afternoon is beyond comprehension," he said. It must have been a horrifying realisation for the children to suddenly realise what their father intended and to be attacked in the way they were. There can be no justification for taking the lives of two innocent children in these circumstances. Michael was angry, not just with his wife, but with the doctor, social services and Surrey Police, all of whom he believed had led him to be in the situation he found himself. He said Pedersen had carried on a "charade" of normality but had planned the killings.