Aaron Cockman found out about kids’ deaths on the radio

The grieving father of four Western Australian children killed in a suspected murder-suicide has opened up about his regret at not being able to save them from their tragic fate.

Aaron Cockman’s children – daughter Taye, 13, and sons Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn, eight, were found dead in their Margaret River home on May 11, along with their mother Katrina Miles, 35, their grandmother Cynda Miles, 58, and grandfather Peter Miles, 61.

Police found three firearms at the Osmington property that were registered to Peter Miles’ name.

Speaking to Channel 7’s Sunday Night, Cockman said he was working at a job site as a concreter the day of the shooting and heard news of the incident over the radio.

“They said ‘hey have you heard on Triple J? Four kids and three adults’,” he told journalist Denham Hitchcock.

“My heart just dropped.

“I said ‘yeah, I think that’s my kids’.”

The Perth father said he had previously received a text message from police officers who asked to speak with him, and they arrived just moments later.

“I asked, ‘Is it true, is it my kids?'” he said.

“And they said ‘yes’.”

The emotional preview for the episode shows Cockman breaking down in tears as he recalls the details about the weeks and months leading up to the suspected shooting, which police are still investigating.

Cockman previously spoke to the media two days after the tragedy and revealed his one piece of solace was that “all the kids died peacefully in their beds”.

“I had one question this morning, I just asked … was Kayden in his own bed or was he sleeping with Kat?” he told reporters outside a WA police station.

“He’s still at that age where he still sleeps with Kat and I was told ‘yes’, he was in Kat’s bed.”

Read more: Family of WA shooting victims release statement on tragedy

He also spoke about his former father-in-law, Peter, with whom Cockman had a difficult relationship after his divorce from Katrina.

“I still love who Peter was. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have Katrina, I wouldn’t have her kids,” Aaron Cockman told reporters, speaking publicly for the first time since the tragedy,” Cockman said.

“So it’s not some random guy off the street who’s taken them away from me – he gave them to me and now he’s taken them away.

“If it had to happen, there is no better person than that.”

Will you be watching this interview tonight?