Police probe flatmates' bizarre triple suicide

Police in the United States are investigating a bizarre triple suicide involving three Britons who were former flatmates in Andover, Hampshire.

Stefan Bateman, 22, from Lancaster, and Ruth Fleming, 22, from County Durham, were found dead on Wednesday after renting guns at a shooting range at Mesa, east of Phoenix, Arizona. The following day, their friend Jane Greenhow, 23, put a gun to her head and killed herself near the town of Redding, in northern California, about 1,000 miles away. All three were wearing Swat-type, black protective clothing when they died.

A spokesman for Andover police said the trio disappeared just after Christmas. He added: "The three of them just took off and no one knows why. It's a total mystery - they didn't tell anyone they were going away."

Walk of death, page 3