A FATHER accused of murdering his five-year-old daughter told a court he “couldn’t remember” driving into a Worcestershire river or writing eight suicide notes.

Chris Grady said he was “as low as a man can get” in the days leading up to Thursday, February 11, last year, but denied that he had ever intended to kill himself or his children.

Birmingham Crown Court has been told how Grady drove into the river Avon in Evesham with children Ryan, now seven, and Gabby, five, in the car.

Gabby, who was trapped in the submerged car for two hours, died in hospital three days later.

Ryan and Grady were saved from the water by police and firefighters.

Grady, aged 42, gave a full account of what happened as the car sunk, but said he couldn’t remember how the car ended up in the river.

The night before, he and the children had stayed at his ex-wife Suzanne Grady’s home in Ronkswood, Worcester. On the way to take the children to school in Evesham on the Thursday morning he stole £15 of petrol from a filling station in London Road because he had no money.

He recalled driving to the home of the children’s mum Kim Smith in Abbots Walk, Evesham, but said his next memory was “being in the river”.

Grady said he remembered a noise like a Catherine Wheel as the car took off from the bank then a “big bang” as it hit the water. He said he turned to Gabby, who was sat in the front passenger seat, and said, “what have I done?”

“Ryan then turned round and said, ‘Something really bad dad’,” Grady recalled.

Grady said he and Ryan found an air pocket in the boot of the estate car and told of making five unsuccessful bids to get Gabby from the front before breaking down in tears.

“I said to Ryan, ‘I’ve got to find Gabby’, but by this stage the water was coming in really quickly,” he said.

“I thought I was looking everywhere. I did look everywhere. I could feel the steering wheel and knew where I was in the footwells. I grabbed the pedals.

“I didn’t find Gabby. By the time I left I was 100 per cent Gabby wasn’t there.”

Grady said he told Ryan to grab his arm and they got out of the vehicle through the windscreen which had been smashed by the water.

Timothy Raggatt, defending, asked Grady if he had intended to kill himself and his children.

Grady replied: “No. No matter how depressed I felt I’d never harm my kids. When my car went into the river I didn’t even know the river was there. I was just driving down a field.”

Eight suicide notes were found in the car’s footwell. One, addressed to ‘Kim’, said, “You led me to this. My kids with me now (sic).”

Another, addressed to a friend called Adam Taplin, said: “Will you put three trees of light in Evesham at my funeral. Will you say I love my children and this is the only way to be with them and keep them safe.”

Grady admits the notes are in his writing but says can’t remember writing them. He also admitted contemplating suicide a few months before but said he never intended to do it.

Grady, of no fixed address, denies murder and attempted murder. The trial continues.