A FORMER Worcestershire man whose wife and baby daughter were found shot dead is wanted by police in America.

Neil Entwistle, a 27-year-old computer programmer, who used to live in Swan Drive, off Hanbury Road, Droitwich, is being sought for questioning after the bodies of his American-born wife Rachel, also 27, and nine-month-old Lillian were found at the family home in Hopkinton,

Massachusetts.

Officials in America are describing Mr Entwistle, who is thought to have left the country, as a "person of interest" in their enquiries.

The community in the quiet residential road in Droitwich where the family once lived is today coming to terms with the grim news.

One former neighbour said: "They were a friendly and happy family. I was shocked when I heard about it."

The man, aged 31, who did not wish to be named, said he knew them only slightly.

He said: "It was literally just a neighbourly thing, to say, 'Hi, how are you?'. That was all."

Alice Broddick now lives in the couple's former home, a modern terraced house.

She said: "I've been living here since September 2005. I think they moved out a week or so before we moved in. I never knew them."

She added: "It's always surprising when you hear anything like this."

Martha Coakley, district attorney for Middlesex, Massachusetts, said Mr Enwistle was "not being labelled a suspect at this stage".

"He had contacted police at one stage and we have been in touch with him since."

"We are aware of where he is. There are other people that we are interested in talking to.

"Obviously, we have a high level of interest in him."

Mrs Entwistle, who used to teach at St Augustine's Catholic High School, Redditch, had been shot in the head. Her daughter was shot in the body.

They were found on Sunday lying side-by-side on a bed with little evidence of blood and no obvious signs of foul play, leading police at first to think they might have died of carbon monoxide poisoning. The bullet wounds were not found until later.

Family and friends had apparently turned up for a dinner party the

couple were due to host on Saturday night but found the rented house in darkness. On Sunday, they called the police, who made the grim discovery.

The couple, originally from Worksop, Nottinghamshire, met through a rowing club while Mr Entwistle studied electronic engineering with business management at the University of York.

They married in 2003. They had set up a website which shows recent pictures of them and Lillian and a message signed from "the happy family".

Pupils from St Augustine's Catholic High School in Hunt End, Redditch, where Mrs Entwistle worked for several years, flooded the couple's website with heartfelt tributes.

They spoke of how excited she had been when she was married and later became pregnant, and described her as a "great teacher" who would be missed by everyone. Hev Williams paid tribute to a "lovely woman with not a bad bone in her body", while Laura Mogg wrote: "She was my theatre studies teacher for three years and was absolutely wonderful. She brightened up every lesson with her great personality." Other entries were from complete strangers moved by the tragedy.