A Shropshire businessman battered his wife and daughter to death before hanging himself after 95% of his income "disappeared in a moment", a coroner has ruled.

Hugh McFall, 48, was found dead in his industrial lock-up on February 5, four hours after the bodies of his wife Susan, 56, and daughter Francesca, 18, were discovered at the family home in Oswestry.

In a 999 call he told an operator: "I've just killed my wife and daughter. I love them so much."

The self-employed flower salesman was facing accusations of invoice discrepancies from his main customer - which had suspended his contract - and feared a police investigation into his accounts.

Recording a verdict of suicide for Mr McFall and unlawful killing for Mrs McFall and Francesca, known as Frankie, coroner John Ellery said: "His financial world had collapsed, his source of business income or at least 90-95% of it, had disappeared in a moment."

The coroner for mid and north Shropshire added: "Their lifestyle, as he knew it, would be over."

The two-day inquest at Shrewsbury Magistrates' Court heard that Mrs McFall and her daughter were found lying side by side on a bed in the master bedroom of the Hampton Road bungalow, covered in a "considerable amount of blood".

Dr Alexander Kolar, a Home Office pathologist, told the court the women had injuries consistent with having been struck by a rubber mallet which was recovered from the scene.

The coroner said he concluded, based upon forensic evidence collected at the family home, that Mrs McFall had died first, from one blow to the head as she lay in her bed.

He said Francesca sustained at least five impacts to her head and was moving around during the attack, which happened in her bedroom, before being dragged along the landing into her parents' room.

The court heard that Mr McFall left two notes, one next to his daughter's body and another in the lock-up where he killed himself.

In one of the notes, Mr McFall wrote: "My world, Frankie and Susan, just ended, I love them so much, nobody can understand.

"Part of me wants to stay alive just so I can keep thinking about them. The pain is too much."

Referring to Mrs McFall's children from a previous marriage, the note continued: "What I have to done Dan and Nick is beyond belief.

"It is all over now, I hope I rot in hell."

Mr McFall left another note next to his daughter's body which read: "I love you more than anything I have ever loved, I couldn't let you suffer, Daddy."

The inquest heard that Mr McFall, a self-employed flower salesman, appeared to have been a devoted family man who "doted" on his wife of 20 years and their daughter.

But business associates told the court they had suspected him of overcharging them more than half a million pounds over a period of seven years and had threatened him with police action.

It also emerged that Mr McFall secretly trawled the internet for prostitute websites and pornography, and researched HIV testing in the months leading up to his death.