Guilt haunts mother over family's murder

(AAP) - A woman whose three children were killed by her husband in a murder suicide says she feels guilty for not being able to protect them.

Gary Bell and his three children, an 18-month-old boy, five-year-old girl and seven-year-old boy, were found dead inside a four-wheel drive at a remote property near Eden, on the NSW south coast, at the end of last month.

The vehicle had been rigged to pump carbon monoxide into it.
The tragic deaths followed years of domestic violence in the Bell household, which
forced the dead man's wife Karen to leave him several times throughout an abusive 10-year relationship.

Ms Bell has told the Nine Network's Sixty Minutes program that she is struggling to
cope with the deaths of her three children.
"I feel very guilty," she said.
"I wasn't there to protect my children. That is all you live for. You live for your kids, you do everything for them you can, you try to make the best life you can. "And they have just been taken away."

Ms Bell said she feared for her life countless times during her marriage, and that
her husband, whose real name was Gary Poxon, ignored Apprehended Violence Orders
(AVOs) taken out to protect her and her children.

"There would be too many (incidents of violence) to count," she said.
"Normally I would run, which was the only thing I could do (because) he would
probably kill me."
Ms Bell also criticised the NSW Department of Community Services' (DoCS) handling of the case, saying they were of no help to her family.

The family was known to DoCS, with the organisation admitting it was informed just
days before the murder-suicide that an AVO had been taken out against Mr Bell.

However, it said no specific concerns had been raised about the youngsters.
DoCS' treatment of the Bell family was heavily criticised in the aftermath of the
tragedy, forcing NSW Community Services Minister Kevin Greene to defend the
organisation. "(DoCS were) no help, none whatsoever," Ms Bell said.