The father of a three-year-old boy found dead in a suspected murder-suicide in Portugal had threatened to harm the child unless his ex abandoned plans to divorce him, local media has claimed.
Clemens Weisshaar, 44, had messaged Phoebe Arnold - his estranged wife and mother to three-year-old Tasso - telling her 'your hell has now begun' after going missing with the boy a week ago.
According to the local media, Portuguese police sources said Weisshaar threatened to harm Tasso 'several times' after failing to return him to Ms Arnold on November 1 following a custody visit - his first since the couple broke up in July.
Weisshaar last made contact with celebrity stylist Ms Arnold on November 4, Correio da Manha reported, three days before his body was found in a remote wooded area alongside the remains of his son which were inside a burned-out car.
It is thought that Weisshaar and Tasso could have laid dead during the days between his last message and when their bodies were found, though post-mortem examinations are underway to establish whether that is the case.
Local media also quoted police sources as saying there had been 'several episodes of domestic violence' between the pair at their shared home in Grandola, where they moved in 2020 and spent several months living before Ms Arnold moved out.
A Portuguese nanny who worked for the couple in London and went with them to Grandola when they moved, told officers she had witnessed multiple episodes of abuse during her time working for the pair, it was reported.
Ms Arnold, a former magazine editor and stylist who works with the likes of Paloma Faith, had been dating Weisshaar, a renowned German designer, since at least 2016.
The globe-trotting pair spent time together in New York, London and Germany before moving to Portugal last year. Based on local reports, they are understood to have been married though it is unclear exactly when they tied the knot.
They had been living together in the village of Grandola, where Weisshaar also has an office, and had bought a vacant schoolhouse nearby with the intention of doing it up into a martial home.
But the couple broke up in July and Ms Arnold moved with Tasso to Lisbon, around 80 miles north of Grandola, with a source close to the couple telling MailOnline Ms Arnold 'couldn't take' Weisshaar's 'controlling and aggressive' behaviour any longer.
Weisshaar is not believed to have been in contact with his son between the date of the split and October 30 when he picked the boy up for his first custody visit.
But it appears he did remain in contact with Ms Arnold, with Jornal de Noticas reporting that he sent her a 'number of messages' updating her on progress at the house and trying to convince her to give their relationship another chance.
'He managed to persuade her to let him see their son again, on October 30, and stay with him till the following Monday,' the newspaper reported.
'On the night of November 1, with Clemens and Tasso still missing, Phoebe Arnold alerted the authorities about the disappearance.
'She showed the police the messages Clemens had been sending her, revealing an obvious sense of frustration.'
