A man blasted a woman to death with a sawn-off shotgun in front of her two young children, before turning the gun on himself.

Police were called to Kiln Lane, Risinghurst, Oxford, shortly before 3pm on April 4 by a neighbour who had heard shots.

The woman was shot in the head outside her home as her three-year-old and 18-month-old sons watched. She suffered three bullet wounds.

The man then turned the gun on himself and died from a single shot to the head.

The couple, who were both white and aged 33, had been having a row, police said. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

The two children are severely traumatised and are being cared for by a relative. Specially trained police officers comforted them following the shooting, which happened in the first week of a national gun amnesty.

Publisher Selina Gibbs, 32, said she called police after hearing three shots.

She said: "I was working from home. I heard this terrible scream, which was absolutely blood-curdling, and then a shot.

"Your first impression is it's a firework because you don't think you live in a street where there's gun crime.

"There was another scream, not as loud as the first, and then a second shot. There was a pause and then a third shot." Lucy Ferguson, Oxford police spokesman, added: "We think they were a couple. We're not sure if they were married and if he was the father of the children. As far as we are aware the woman lived at an address in Kiln Lane."

A 41-year-old woman said: "It was totally surreal, there was panic among neighbours but the bodies looked peaceful lying next to each other.

"A neighbour took the two children into her home and we all stood out in the street trying to figure out what had happened.

"It seemed to take forever for the police to arrive, but when they did we saw they were armed and everyone fled back inside."