Gunman wrote message to wife
A GUNMAN wrote a tender message to his wife while besieged in his home by police marksmen, it emerged this afternoon.
This is the first picture of barrister Mark Saunders, 32, who was found dead after exchanging fire with police during a five-hour stand-off at his £2.2 million Chelsea flat.
Neighbour Jane Winkworth said he threw a white cardboard box from a window as he held off police with a shotgun.
She said the box carried a message written in black pen. It read: “I love my wife dearly xxx.”
Witnesses described how a woman, believed to be Mr Saunders’ wife Elizabeth, fled the Markham Square flat in tears shortly before shots rang out last night.
Mrs Winkworth ran for her life after Mr Saunders shot at her as she stood in the back garden of the three-storey Georgian terrace.
The businesswoman was then trapped in her basement flat with armed police as they attempted to negotiate the gunman’s surrender.
She said the gunman appeared calm and composed, only shouting “I can’t hear you” at officers as they attempted to give him instructions.
Colleagues at QEB Chambers, where Mr Saunders worked as a divorce barrister, described the incident as a “personal tragedy”.
His wife, who uses the professional name Elizabeth Clarke, is a family law barrister at the same firm.