Review case of Briton shot by father in US, says MP

An MP has called for the government to put pressure on Texas authorities to reopen the case of a British woman shot dead by her father in the US.

Lucy Harrison, 23, of Warrington, Cheshire, was alone in a room with her father, Kris Harrison, at his home in the town of Prosper, near Dallas, when she was shot in the chest on 10 January 2025.

No criminal charges were brought in the US. However, senior coroner for Cheshire, Jacqueline Devonish, found Kris Harrison's actions amounted to unlawful killing on the grounds of gross negligence manslaughter at an inquest.

Labour MP for Warrington South Sarah Hall told the Commons she wanted the government to encourage US authorities to reconsider the case.

Police in Texas investigated Lucy's death as possible manslaughter but a grand jury in Collin County decided against indicting her father.

The inquest in Cheshire in February was told he had been drinking on the day he shot his daughter. He had purportedly taken her into the room to show her his gun, after they had been arguing about US President Donald Trump.

Hall told the end-of-term Commons debate about Lucy, a fashion buyer, who was staying at the house with her boyfriend Sam Littler when she was shot: "She was in her father's home, somewhere she should have been safe."

The MP said Lucy's family, including her mother Jane and Sam, were not given "adequate support" from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), including information on how the Texan legal system works.

She spoke about how the case had been "considered by a grand jury in Texas" but "no criminal charges were brought. The gun had simply gone off".

"The senior coroner for Cheshire told the court that Lucy's father's actions on the day of her death were truly exceptionally bad and reprehensible, so as to amount to her death, and she rejected the account that the gun had simply gone off."

She added Lucy's family wanted the coroner's findings to be taken seriously and fully re-examined in the US.

Hall added: "I implore the government to use every channel it has to press the relevant authorities in Texas to reopen or formally reconsider Lucy's case," adding: "And to stand alongside a British family to ensure that the findings of a British court are properly considered".

She also pressed the FCDO to do more in future "to support the families of constituents murdered abroad".

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