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A father involved in a bitter custody battle over his 13-month-old daughter was found dead in his car yesterday, with the body of the little girl by his side. Unemployed salesman Eric Gleeson, 39, had failed to return daughter Alicia to her mother in Carleton, near Fleetwood, Lancashire, after collecting her for an outing on Sunday.

A passer-by found the pair at dawn in a lay-by on the A6 at Garstang, with a hosepipe leading from the exhaust. Both had died from carbon monoxide poisoning, said police. Mr Gleeson, who was said to have been depressed, had telephoned the girl's mother, Celeste Melville, on Sunday afternoon and told her she would not see her daughter again.