Police were last night trying to piece together events which led a father to massacre his wife and three children before taking his own life.

The man, who has not been named, was found hanged on an upstairs landing at the family home in Birmingham.

West Midlands Police also found the bodies of three young children and their mother, who had all been stabbed, when they forced entry to the address in Bromyard Road, Sparkhill, shortly after 2pm. Officers had been alerted by a concerned relative who raised the alarm when he could not gain entry to the house.

One police officer described the scene in the terraced house as the ''worst'' he had seen in 20 years' service.

Outside the red-bricked home, neighbours spoke of their shock that a seemingly normal couple and their three young children could be found dead in such horrific circumstances.

Mrs Bernadette Colfer and her husband Mark, who live just two doors away from the tragic family, said the man worked as a window cleaner.

She said: ''It's a terrible shock as it's so near home. They were a very nice respectable couple and the children were lovely.''

Her husband added: ''They were lovely little children, a little girl and two boys, and they appeared to be a happy family. I found out when I came home from work at dinner time. I can't believe it, I saw the man only on Saturday.''

Another neighbour, who declined to be named, said she had babysat twice for the couple's youngest child.

''I have lived here for four years and they were here before me,'' she said.

''They were good people who cared about each other. It's a terrible shock.''

The neighbour said the couple worked together in their own cleaning business. She added: ''The little boy was lovely. They were beautiful children and it's terribly sad.''

Inspector Phil Wright, of West Midlands Police, said the main line of inquiry centred on the possibility that the man had stabbed his wife and children to death before taking his own life. He said the scene inside the house was the worst he had witnessed while in the police service.

He said a boy aged two to three, and a girl aged about seven, were found dead in a downstairs kitchen, and a boy aged about nine was in an upstairs front bedroom.

The man was found hanging on the landing and the woman's body discovered in an upstairs bedroom, he said.

The officer added: ''Relatives are being informed. The relative who called us was concerned that he hadn't had any contact from the family over the weekend.

''Officers were faced with a tragic scene. We are not looking for anybody else at the moment in connection with this, but obviously we are looking into the family background and conducting background inquiries.''

The officer added that he had no idea what may have sparked the husband's apparent killing spree and subsequent suicide.

Later, uniformed officers stood guard as the five bodies were taken from the house and loaded into a black Ford Transit van.

Scenes of crime officers took 20 minutes to carry the bodies from the house to the waiting vehicle.

Post-mortem examinations are expected to be carried out today.

The coroner has been informed of the deaths.