Outwardly Reed Wischhusen lived a quiet, ordinary life, caring for his father, Alan, at their scruffy semi in the Somerset village of Wick St Lawrence and working nightshifts in a budget supermarket’s warehouse near Bristol.
On his Facebook page, Wischhusen, 32, described himself as “down to earth and very shy”, a lover of 80s and 90s music and video games. He seemed isolated and lonely, but law-abiding and harmless.