Doctor sees his wife and daughters murdered

But he was left battered, terrified and alone following a hostage nightmare which ended in the murder of his loved ones.

After two robbers broke in during the early hours, Jennifer Hawke- Petit, 48, was made to drive to a bank with one of the gang and withdraw cash while her husband and the girls were held hostage by the other.

Before leaving, she managed to alert a bank worker that something was wrong. Police raced to her home only to find it in flames.

As they arrived two men tried to drive away in an estate car. They rammed three squad cars before being chased and arrested at gunpoint.

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While police were struggling with the men, Dr Petit staggered out of his blazing house and made it to a neighbour's home, begging for help.

Inside the building, officers found the bodies of his wife and their daughters Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 15. Post-mortem examinations will be held today.

Dr Petit, 50, was seriously ill in hospital after being repeatedly beaten during the hostage nightmare, which has shocked the town of Cheshire, Connecticut – one of the most exclusive neighbourhoods in New England.

The two suspects, aged 26 and 44, are to face court accused of assault, sexual assault, kidnapping, burglary, robbery and arson. Further charges are likely.

Public Safety Commissioner John Danaher said: "It is a particularly heinous crime."

It was about 3am when the two men somehow managed to get into the family's secluded home on Sorghum Mill Drive. Six hours later, as the bank opened, one of the men forced Mrs Hawke-Petit to drive there while the other guarded her family.

Neighbour Walter Ryan was walking his dog as police arrived and watched as the suspects' vehicle rammed the police cars. Mr Ryan said: "I saw flames coming from the house and then watched as police with guns drawn chased the men through neighbouring back yards shouting, 'Get out of the car!'."

Dr Petit, 50, is an endocrinologist and diabetes specialist. He is the medical director of a diabetes centre and president of the Hartford County Medical Association.

His wife, a former nurse, was health director at the Cheshire Academy, a private boarding school. She was also deeply involved with the Girl Scouts and former President Jimmy Carter's international affordable housing charity, Habitat for Humanity.

Hayley, a star scholar and athlete, insisted on attending her high school graduation in nearby Farmington, Connecticut, last month although she had been ill in bed with a collapsed lung.

She was editor-in-chief of Chautauqua, the school's 'journal of scholarly writing,' captain of the rowing team and a member of the cross-country and basketball teams.

She already had a place to study medicine at Dartmouth College, Connecticut, the same university her father had attended.

She had organised a school charity called Hayley's Hope which had raised more than £27,000 for medical research.

When she went to university, her younger sister was planning to take over Hayley's Hope and turn it into Michaela's Miracle.

School head teacher Burch Ford said: "They were wonderful students, loved by their classmates and respected by everyone."