A husband is believed to have killed his estranged wife before taking his own life in Co Antrim.
The body of mother-of-three Sharon Hull, 33, was found in her detached house in Carnbeg Meadows, Antrim, shortly after 8.30am on Sunday.
Ten minutes later her husband, Philip, was discovered in a red Ford Escort in a car park of the nearby Tardree Forest, in the Parkgate Road area of Kells, five miles away.
Detectives are treating Mrs Hull's death as murder and her husband's as an apparent suicide.
They are not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.
Local Ulster Unionist Party councillor Adrian Watson, who knew the couple, said the area was in shock.
"When the news started breaking, friends and family, everybody was in total shock," he said. "With a young family, lovely house, everything seemed to have been going quite well.
"Certainly no one would have suspected this event would have been brought to their door. A complete shock to everybody."
Detectives from the PSNI's Serious Crime branch are appealing for anyone who heard a disturbance in Carnbeg Meadows at around 3am to come forward.
The couple have two boys and one girl, all thought to be under 10, but none were in the house when the body was discovered. Police confirmed there had been a restraining order in place against Mr Hull.
A husband is believed to have killed his estranged wife before taking his own life in Co Antrim.
The body of mother-of-three Sharon Hull, 33, was found in her detached house in Carnbeg Meadows, Antrim, shortly after 8.30am on Sunday.
Ten minutes later her husband, Philip, was discovered in a red Ford Escort in a car park of the nearby Tardree Forest, in the Parkgate Road area of Kells, five miles away.
Detectives are treating Mrs Hull's death as murder and her husband's as an apparent suicide.
They are not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.
Local Ulster Unionist Party councillor Adrian Watson, who knew the couple, said the area was in shock.
"When the news started breaking, friends and family, everybody was in total shock," he said. "With a young family, lovely house, everything seemed to have been going quite well.
"Certainly no one would have suspected this event would have been brought to their door. A complete shock to everybody."
Detectives from the PSNI's Serious Crime branch are appealing for anyone who heard a disturbance in Carnbeg Meadows at around 3am to come forward.
The couple have two boys and one girl, all thought to be under 10, but none were in the house when the body was discovered. Police confirmed there had been a restraining order in place against Mr Hull.
Islamic protesters have massed in a British city ahead of a rally addressed by former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf.
The Islamic political organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir said up to 200 of its supporters had gathered in Birmingham to demonstrate against the ex-military ruler.
General Musharraf is set to address a rally of up to 1,500 people at the city's New Bingley Hall.
The former president, who led Pakistan for nine years from 1999 after taking power in a military coup, is launching a new political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League.
But his critics in Hizb ut-Tahrir branded him "a slave of America" who supported the war against the Muslims of Afghanistan.
They gathered outside the rally venue this morning under banners saying "Musharraf and Zardari: slaves of America" and "Pakistan needs an accountable ruler".
The group's spokesman, Taji Mustafa, said: "The purpose of our demonstration against Musharraf is clear: to expose a man who is no less a slave of America than (current Pakistani president Asif Ali) Zardari who he seeks to replace.
"He is the man...who fuelled bitter divisions within Pakistan; the man who allowed US security forces into Pakistan...
"Pakistan needs a new leadership and new system."
West Midlands Police said officers had been deployed to keep an eye on the protest as a precautionary measure.
Police have returned to a block of flats where two women died in a suspected copycat double suicide, following reports of chemical fumes in the area.
Concerned residents of the building in Putney, south-west London, called the police just before 3pm on Sunday afternoon reporting a chemical smell.
Officers are currently at the scene investigating the reports, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.
On Saturday, it emerged that one of the dead women had contacted police to complain she was being harassed.
The woman, who has not been named, fled to the Putney flat owned by a not-for-profit trust that helps vulnerable women.
She and another woman - both reported to have been prostitutes - apparently gassed themselves after sealing doors and windows at the property.
Neighbours said one of the women appeared scared and was reluctant to speak to people as she kept her curtains drawn night and day.
One said she moved to the affordable bedsit about five months ago from Roehampton to "escape someone" and because of people taking drugs near her home.
Officials at the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) have launched an investigation into the reaction of police to her complaints.
The Met said that they had received a letter warning of the suicides. The letter was acted on by the director of professional standards, a spokesman said.
The Prince of Wales has arrived in India for the Commonwealth Games as security around the event was stepped up ahead of its opening on Sunday.
Charles and the country's president Pratibha Patil will both preside at the glittering ceremony which will launch the major sporting event.
Extra measures have been put in place to counter any possible threats at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Delhi where an audience of 60,000 are expected to watch teams from more than 70 nations parade around the arena.
The sporting venue was locked down earlier following the final dress rehearsal and armed patrols put in place.
Around 5,000 police personnel have been posted to the stadium where the prince will read out the Queen's Commonwealth baton message and end his address by declaring the Games open.
Other measures have seen snipers and commandos deployed to the area and army units have been put on standby, according to reports.
The high levels of security have even seen the Indian government's home affairs minister Palaniappan Chidambaram searched twice by personnel earlier this week during visits to Games' venues to check security.
After arriving by plane in Delhi with the Earl of Wessex, who is vice-patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation, Charles visited the president at her imposing official home - Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The prince was joined by the Duchess of Cornwall, who flew out ahead of her husband to a health spa near Bangalore, to meet India's head of state and her husband Dr Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat.
The Prince of Wales welcomed the president in traditional Indian style by clasping his hands together in a gesture known as namaskar - a symbolic "saluting the god in you". As he did so the head of state held out her right hand in the classic western greeting.
Town halls that wrongly ban events on health and safety grounds could face making big compensation payouts, under plans being considered by the Government.
Teachers could also be given assurances that they are not liable for everyday mishaps and accidents during school trips and after-hours clubs.
Tory former Cabinet minister Lord Young, who has drawn up the proposals at David Cameron's request, said he wanted to inject "common sense" into the health and safety regime.
But critics accused the peer of focusing on "silly" incidents rather than ensuring people were properly protected at work and in the community.
Lord Young's review also concluded that there should be a crackdown on advertising encouraging people to make personal injury claims on a no-win, no-fee basis and that people performing first aid or Good Samaritan acts should be exempted from being sued.
Speaking to the Daily Mail ahead of a speech to the Tory conference in Birmingham, Lord Young said he had uncovered extraordinary examples, including a restaurant that would not give out toothpicks for fear of injury, a headteacher who told pupils not to walk under a conker tree without helmets and a council that banned a pancake race because it was raining.
"It makes you wonder what sort of world we have come to," Lord Young said. "It has gone to such extremes. What I have seen everywhere is a complete lack of common sense. People have been living in an alternative universe.
"This sort of nonsense has come from the last government trying to create a nanny state and trying to keep everybody in cotton wool. Frankly if I want to do something stupid and break my leg or neck, that's up to me. I don't need a council to tell me not to be an idiot. I can be an idiot all by myself."
TUC Health and Safety Officer Hugh Robertson said: "The signs are that Lord Young's report gets the balance completely wrong.
"For sure silly things are sometimes done in the name of health and safety and the behaviour of some claims firms can be reprehensible. "But the real health and safety scandal in the UK is the 20,000 people who die each year due to injury or diseases linked to their work."
Three police officers have resigned during an investigation into alleged misconduct, Lincolnshire Police have said.
Two of the officers from Lincolnshire Police were arrested over allegations relating to "property found in their possession," Supt Paula Wood said.
They remain on police bail.
Another officer and a civilian worker have also resigned.
All four were suspended from their jobs at Louth Police Station on August 25.
A file has been forwarded to the Crown Prosecution Service, a police spokeswoman said.
The force said it expected "high standards of discipline and conduct from all of its officers".
David Cameron has sought to dampen fears over the coalition's drastic austerity measures as the Tories gathered for their first conference since regaining power.
The Prime Minister signalled a shift to a more optimistic tone by urging people to get the public spending curbs "into perspective".
He also tried to put an end to the simmering row over deep reductions in the defence budget, insisting troops would still have "everything they need" to fight the Taliban after the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) on October 20.
The comments came in newspaper interviews as the Conservative Party prepared to kick off its annual conference in Birmingham.
The cuts are set to dominate the four-day event, with tough negotiations still ongoing between ministers ahead of the CSR and trade unions planning a series of protests.
But Mr Cameron told the News of the World that the curbs - which could be up to 40 per cent in some departments - may not hurt as much as people feared. "Let's put these cuts into perspective," he said. "Many businesses have had to make far greater reductions than us in one year."
Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph, he also claimed the UK economy was now out of the "danger zone" where its credit rating was under threat, and was once again "open for business".
It emerged this week that Defence Secretary Liam Fox had written privately to Mr Cameron warning that "draconian" reductions being demanded by the Treasury would have "grave consequences". The premier conceded that there had been "lively discussions", but said he had a "very good chat" with Dr Fox at 10 Downing Street.
Mr Cameron laid the blame for the pressures firmly on Labour, saying his government had inherited a "car crash" of a defence budget that was overspent by £38 billion.
Mr Cameron also hailed the "revolutionary" deal done between Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith and Chancellor George Osborne to push through fundamental reform of welfare. After fierce rows, the two men are believed to have agreed to replace the current range of benefits with one "universal credit".
Exiled Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf has told a rally in Britain of his plans to return to the country at the head of a new party in a bid to regain power.
The former premier, who led Pakistan for nine years from 1999 after taking power in a military coup, is launching a new political party, the All Pakistan Muslim League.
Addressing an audience of about 1,500 people in Birmingham, he admitted mistakes were made while he was in office but insisted he had learnt from them, according to an MP who attended.
Birmingham Labour MP Khalid Mahmood said: "It went very well. He said that at the end of his term in office there were mistakes made and he apologised for that.
"He said that if mistakes were made he would let people know what the circumstances behind those mistakes were."
He pointed to his record in power, citing among his achievements the amount of money that came into Pakistan and the infrastructure such as roads and reservoirs that were built.
Mr Mahmood said: "He said that at the moment people are not able to feed themselves and that that didn't happen when he was in power. He said he wanted to move forward and offer himself to the people."
The ex-military ruler said he wanted a political party that would be accountable to the people and with its own democratic structure. Power would not be inherited, he promised.
The former leader was offered a predominantly warm reception by the audience at New Bingley Hall, the MP said, and was greeted with chanting and waving.
Meanwhile members of the Islamic political organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir held a peaceful demonstration outside the venue. The group branded Gen Musharraf "a slave of America" who supported the war against the Muslims of Afghanistan.
Campaigner Sara Payne has spoken of her anger after she was told she could not act as trustee of her own charity.
Mrs Payne, whose daughter Sarah, eight, was murdered by paedophile Roy Whiting in 2000, launched The Phoenix Foundation in order to help the victims of paedophiles.
But when registering the group with the Charities Commission earlier this year she was told she could not act as trustee as it would constitute a conflict of interest.
The charity was intended to provide a free advocacy service, supporting victims and their families through the courts and other services. She has now had to hand over control of the charity to another party, a decision which she said has left her feeling "betrayed".
Mrs Payne said she and two associates applied in June to the commission to work as 'unpaid trustees' of the charity. Once they had raised the cash needed they would step down to undertake the victim's advocacy work in accordance with the Charity Commissions rules.
She explained: "The Charities Commission kept on claiming that we were applying or inferring that we were asking to be 'paid trustees' and claimed that my work on Sarah's Law and as a victim's advocate, created a potential conflict of interest that they would not explain - but that on those grounds - refused our application.
"In the end, just last week, we were forced to put three different people up as trustees to get the foundation registered and as a result of being forced to do that, our organisation closed on Friday, we lost our staff and some of our funders."
She added: "I've dedicated the last ten years of my life to child protection and victim advocacy and against all the odds have managed to achieve so much and feel there is so much more I can do, I feel betrayed, devastated and confused that I can't be a trustee of my own charity in order to raise funds for desperately needed services that are just not available anywhere else."
A spokeswoman for the Charity Commission said The Phoenix Foundation had now been registered. She explained: "Before the registration was completed there were a number of issues that needed to be addressed, including resolving a potential conflict of interest that existed in the charity's original application.
"Charity trustees must avoid any personal conflicts of interest and generally are not entitled to receive any payment out of the charity's funds. Where conflicts of interest do exist, these must be appropriately managed."
Speculation over child benefit cuts is mounting after Iain Duncan Smith gave more details of root-and-branch welfare reforms.
The Work and Pensions Secretary confirmed the current range of dozens of benefits would be replaced by a single "Universal Credit" after sealing a deal with Chancellor George Osborne.
The two men had clashed repeatedly over how to fund the changes, with the heavy up-front costs causing alarm in the Treasury as the coalition struggled to slash budgets. However, a compromise has been reached to stagger implementation of the reforms over two parliaments.
The agreement is also thought to be contingent on other reductions in welfare payments, with reports that child benefit could stop at the age of 16 rather than 18 to save £2 billion a year.
Formally announcing the reforms as the Tory conference kicked off in Birmingham, Mr Duncan Smith said they represented "the dawn of 21st-century welfare".
"To those that have been marginalised and abandoned to a life on benefits by Labour I say: we will get you back into work and in control of your life," he insisted. "For the most vulnerable I say - we will protect you. And to the taxpayer I say - here is true value for money, a system that invests in you and supports you in your time of need but expects everyone in society to contribute and will no longer allow anyone to choose a life on benefits.
"We will break the cycle of dependency and poverty that has become so entrenched in our poorest communities."
A whole new IT system will be introduced to implement the Universal Credit, with PAYE data collected in real time so the Government can calculate what people are entitled to. The move should make it easier to ensure people are always better off when they working, as well as reducing the scope for fraud and error - which currently costs billions of pounds a year.
Disability Living Allowance will remain outside the Universal Credit, and those who care for the disabled should be able to take part-time or short-term work and not lose their benefits.
The reforms will be introduced in a White Paper in the autumn, and then put to Parliament in a Welfare Reform bill next year.
Golf's Ryder Cup looks set for its first ever Monday finish after torrential rain washed out the start of Sunday's finale.
Heavy downpours left pools of water on the greens and fairways at Celtic Manor in Newport, South Wales, with play called off until noon at the earliest.
Spectators have also been barred from the waterlogged course, leaving thousands of people waiting in cars or at park and ride zones nearby.
Officials have said the tournament - which saw seven hours of play wiped out due to wet weather on Friday - will almost certainly conclude on Monday, the first time that has happened in its 83-year history.
Europe and America's best players were due to start teeing off at 7.45am to finish off some matches delayed by Friday's stoppage.
That would have left the final 12 singles matches to fit in before the end of the day.
But Ryder Cup chief referee John Paramor told Sky Sports: "It looks as if we are definitely going to be playing on Monday."
He added: "We have been told that this heavy rain will clear between 9am and 10am, possibly 10.30am, and then we will probably need an hour or an hour-and-a-half to push some water away from the golf course and make it playable again."
Mr Paramor said he would aim to get the remaining third-session games finished today. "Then it will be a case of when we start the singles matches."
Saturday ended with USA up 6-4 in the overall standings but with the momentum in Europe's favour, heralding another tense finale.
At least three Britons have died in Peru after their light aircraft crashed near one of the country's most famous tourist attractions.
They were on a Cessna plane with one other passenger and two crew that came down in a field near the centuries-old Nazca Lines markings.
Local police said four Britons - three men and a woman - were killed, but the UK Foreign Office said Peruvian authorities had so far confirmed three Britons were on the plane, with the identity of a fourth passenger still to be determined.
The plane is thought to have suffered engine trouble and crashed after taking off from the local Maria Reiche airport at about 11.15pm British time on Saturday.
Local police said the aircraft hit the field as the pilot and co-pilot - said to be Peruvian - tried to make an emergency landing.
The Nazca Lines, mysterious geoglyphs etched into the desert centuries ago by indigenous groups, are a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of Peru's main tourist destinations. About 240 miles south east of the capital Lima, the glyphs are only fully recognisable from the air and 30-minute overflights are popular with travellers.
A Foreign Office spokesman said the British Ambassador to Peru and another member of the consular staff were on their way to the scene of the crash from Lima.
"The Peruvian authorities have notified us that three British nationals died in the plane crash in Nazca," he said.
"A fourth passenger died in the incident, along with two crew members. Police are attempting to identify the nationality and identity of the fourth passenger."
Several dozen planes in Nazca offer flights over the Lines, but there have been allegations of poor supervision of the aircraft. In February, a Cessna 206 carrying three Chileans and four Peruvians over the lines crashed and killed everyone on board. Another crash in April 2008 killed five French tourists, though their pilot survived.
An eight-year-old child has drowned at a caravan park, police said.
Officers were called to the scene in Talacre, Flintshire, following reports of the incident.
A North Wales Police spokesman said: "North Wales Police can confirm that they attended Talacre caravan park following a report of an eight-year-old child having drowned.
"We are not treating the incident as suspicious and the coroner has been informed."
David Cameron has sought to dampen fears over the coalition's drastic austerity measures as the Tories gathered for their first conference since regaining power.
The Prime Minister signalled a shift to a more optimistic tone by urging people to get the public spending curbs "into perspective".
He also tried to put an end to the simmering row over deep reductions in the defence budget, insisting troops would still have "everything they need" to fight the Taliban after the Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) on October 20.
The comments came in newspaper interviews as the Conservative Party prepared to kick off its annual conference in Birmingham.
The cuts are set to dominate the four-day event, with tough negotiations continuing between ministers ahead of the CSR and trade unions planning a series of protests.
But Mr Cameron told a national newspaper that the curbs - which could be up to 40% in some departments - may not hurt as much as people feared. "Let's put these cuts into perspective," he said. "Many businesses have had to make far greater reductions than us in one year."
He also claimed the UK economy was now out of the "danger zone" where its credit rating was under threat, and was once again "open for business".
Mr Cameron looked relaxed as he arrived alone at the Hyatt hotel in Birmingham on Friday night. Dressed casually in an open neck shirt and sweater, he did not speak to reporters as he went in.
Mr Osborne and Foreign Secretary William Hague, accompanied by wife Ffion, both arrived a short while earlier.
Conservative chairman Baroness Warsi is to open the conference today by praising the progress the coalition has made during its first five months.
The country's most senior policeman has warned that organised crime gangs are increasingly turning to the internet to maximise their earnings.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said: "The modern Tony Soprano-style crime lord will have a cyber expert on hand."
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he warned about the risk of losing technology specialists in order to keep officers on the beat, saying: "Uniform officers alone will not keep the streets safe."
His comments came after his force last week charged 11 eastern Europeans over a multi-million pound theft from UK online bank accounts.
Sir Paul said police were only tackling 11% of the 6,000 organised crime groups in England and Wales "in an operationally meaningful way".
Of the 385 officers in England and Wales dedicated to online work, 85% were tackling people-trafficking and child pornography - leaving fewer than 60 to fight financial crimes such as bank fraud.
"My investigators tell me the expertise available to law enforcement is thin, compared to the skills they suspect are at the disposal of cyber criminals," he said.
The commissioner added: "Some commentators argue that we should concentrate on uniformed policing and draw back from specialised work that could be done by others," he said.
"Leave cyber crime to the banks and retailers to sort out, the argument runs. It's a fundamentally misguided argument. If the debate about police cutbacks gets bogged down in arguments about 'uniforms before specialists' we will not serve the public well."
The Met's e-crime unit cost £2.75 million to run last year. Sir Paul said it was estimated to have prevented £21 in theft for every £1 spent.
Computer records from British forces' tours of Afghanistan are wiped when they return to the UK, the Ministry of Defence has admitted.
The department said it was "not possible" to give assurances that there were no longer gaps in the storage of information created on operations overseas.
A solicitor representing more than 100 Iraqis who claim they were abused by British troops said the military's failure to retain copies of electronic files from foreign deployments "smacked of cover-up".
The public inquiry into the death of hotel worker Baha Mousa, 26, in the custody of UK soldiers in southern Iraq in 2003 is looking at defence officials' record-keeping.
Inquiry staff have encountered difficulties in obtaining copies of commanders' directives and establishing who held what post at the time.
Katherine de Bourcier, the MoD's departmental records officer, was asked to comment on whether adequate records of military deployments are now being kept so relevant personnel and orders can be traced if investigations are launched later.
She admitted there was a "significant" risk that the deletion of data held by Army headquarters and units returning from foreign tours did not follow proper records management procedures. "It is not possible at this stage to provide assurance that there are no longer information gaps in records created on operations," she said in a statement to the inquiry.
The Royal Navy, Army and RAF have separate guidelines for keeping records from deployments for "historical purposes", but this amounts to only a small proportion of the information created on operations.
Phil Shiner, from Birmingham-based Public Interest Lawyers, has fought legal battles to force the MoD to disclose documents relating to alleged mistreatment of prisoners in Iraq by UK forces. In one case a British Army officer threw two laptop computers storing pictures of 20 dead Iraqis overboard from a cross-Channel ferry, the High Court heard last year. Mr Shiner said: "This is absolutely reckless. For them to wipe them all just smacks of cover-up. I cannot believe that there is some benign explanation for bringing computers home and then purging them. It's a bit like chucking them off a cross-Channel ferry."
The inquiry will resume on Tuesday, when it will examine how the military can ensure prisoners are properly looked after in the future.
US citizens could be warned to stay away from high-profile sites in Europe amid renewed fears over al Qaida terrorist attacks.
American and UK officials are understood to have been in contact over the possibility of a broad alert being issued.
The move could have significant implications for tourism across Europe, with tourist sites and transport hubs expected to be highlighted as potential danger spots.
However, reports suggested the warning was likely to be vague and urge people to exercise caution rather than cancelling travel plans altogether.
A senior State Department official said: "We are considering issuing an 'alert'. The bottom line is travel, but be vigilant."
State Department spokesman PJ Crowley declined to comment on the matter. But he said the US administration remained focused on al Qaida threats to US interests and would take appropriate steps to protect Americans.
The warning comes after intelligence officials in Britain intercepted a credible Islamist-linked terror plot last week. The planned attack would reportedly have been similar to the deadly commando-style raids in Mumbai, India, two years ago, with other European cities, in France and Germany, also targeted.
On Tuesday night the Eiffel Tower in Paris was evacuated following a bomb threat called in from a telephone booth. It was the second such alert at the tower in two weeks. A search by bomb experts found nothing unusual, and it was reopened within hours.
There has been speculation that Osama bin Laden could be masterminding the latest plots personally.
A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed that the UK's terror threat rating remained at "severe", the second highest rating, where it has been since increasing from "substantial" in January.
Changes to the driving test are to be introduced and will include candidates driving "independently" for a period without getting step-by-step directions from their examiner.
Candidates will be asked to follow, for around 10 minutes, a route that they will be shown in advance.
However, the Driving Standards Agency (DSA), which is no longer publishing test routes online, stressed that candidates can ask for reminders of their route as they drive and they will not be failed for going off route.
Another change involves those taking the test only having to complete one of the three reversing manoeuvres, instead of two at present.
Road Safety Minister Mike Penning said: "The independent driving assessment gives test candidates the chance to show they have the necessary skills to cope with the sort of traffic conditions they will face every day. Learning those skills from the very start of the driving process will help make new drivers safer."
DSA's chief driving examiner, Trevor Wedge, said: "The aim of independent driving is to assess the candidate's ability to drive safely while making decisions independently. It's not a test of navigation and candidates won't be failed for going off route.
"The test is being improved to help produce safer drivers, but that doesn't mean it's getting any harder. We know many instructors are already teaching independent driving."
AA Driving School director Simon Douglas said: "We welcome the introduction of independent driving, which will help ensure the test is about being a good driver, not just knowing the test route."
Peter Rodger, chief examiner of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "This is a good step forward. All new drivers have to learn that multi-tasking - controlling the car, looking out for hazards and planning ahead while navigating - is an integral part of day-to-day driving."
He continued: "Our own research has shown that two-thirds of fatal accidents in England happen on rural roads, and this figure rises to three-quarters for Scotland and Wales. At present rural roads are not a compulsory element of the test, and we feel that considering the size of the problem it is an area that should be the next focus for continuous improvement."
A top Tory has launched a furious attack on the proposed referendum on Alternative Voting and denounced the system as "unsatisfactory, un-British, and causing frustration and anger".
Edward Leigh, former chairman of the powerful Public Accounts Committee, said it was insulting to the electorate to force this "confusing" system on them.
Mr Leigh's outburst will displease the party leadership as the Conservatives gather in Birmingham for their first annual conference since the General Election.
Writing in the Parliamentary House Magazine, Mr Leigh said the particular type of AV to be proposed in the referendum was in use only in Papua New Guinea.
"This system is rare for the good reasons that it is complex, eccentric, does not reduce the chances of hung parliaments and leaves the minority parties completely unrepresented.
"In short it is neither fairer nor more proportional than the system we already have."
Mr Leigh, MP for Gainsborough, went on: "Don't let us wallow in a quagmire of half-measures: it is unsatisfactory, un-British and causes frustration and anger."
He pointed out that this "AV compromise" was not in the election manifestos of either of the coalition parties.
And he objected to the plan to hold the referendum on the same day as the Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh elections, a manoeuvre which, he said, would concern voters in England.
"A referendum should be held when conditions are consistent across the nation. I understand that a coincidence of dates will save us nearly £8 million, but let's not sell our political principles for the price of a nice house in Chelsea," he added.
