A NATIONWIDE search was under way last night for a missing businessman

whose wife and two children were found dead by a nanny at the family

home.

The bodies of Julie Garvey, 37, and her two children, Benjamin, four,

and Hannah, two, were discovered shortly after 8am yesterday in the

quiet Gloucestershire village of Teddington, near Tewkesbury.

Last night, Gloucestershire police said they were ''very keen'' to

contact Mrs Garvey's husband Dennis, a computer specialist with the

Eagle Star insurance company at their Cheltenham headquarters.

They also issued the registration number of his blue Volvo 740 estate

car -- F874 PFH.

Police forces throughout Britain were alerted and a watch was being

maintained on airports and seaports, but last night there was no trace

of Mr Garvey, who is in his early 40s.

The bodies were discovered by the children's nanny, a 21-year-old

local woman, when she arrived for work at Orchard House, a detached,

redbrick property in the centre of the village.

Mrs Garvey's body, with head injuries, was in an upstairs bedroom. The

bodies of the two children were in a nearby bedroom. They had no

apparent injuries, and one police theory was that they may have been

smothered.

The family was last seen together on Monday, apparently returning home

to the village after a Bank Holiday day out.

Police sealed off the house as forensic experts began an inch-by-inch

search.

Detective Superintendent Peter Shayle, who is leading the inquiry,

told reporters: ''We are very keen to contact the householder, Mr

Garvey, who may be in possession of the family Volvo car.''

A post-mortem examination was later carried out in Cheltenham by Home

Office pathologist Dr Stephen Leadbeatter, who was called in from

Cardiff.

Villagers described the Garveys as a ''model family'', who kept

themselves to themselves. They had lived at the house, alongside other

elegant properties of commuter families, for some eight years.

They bought Orchard House from their farmer neighbour, Michael

Blackwell, 48, who lives at adjoining Orchard Farm.

Family friend Mrs Liz Johnston said last night: ''We still cannot

believe this has happened. We are stunned.

''They were just a normal, happy family and as far as we knew they did

not have any problems.''