Sister 'trying to forgive' Epsom College headteacher and daughter's killer - as coroner airs gun licensing concerns
The sister of an Epsom College headteacher who was shot dead by her husband along with their daughter has said she is "trying to forgive" their killer, who took his own life.
Senior coroner Richard Travers found Emma Pattison, 45, and seven-year-old Lettie were unlawfully killed, while chartered accountant George Pattison, 39, died by suicide, at an inquest on Tuesday.
He said he had identified a "matter of concern" in the gun licensing system, which meant applicants could evade scrutiny of their medical history, after Woking Coroners Court heard Mr Pattison had been prescribed anti-anxiety medication by an online GP.
He said he would address the matter in a prevention of future deaths report and consider whether to include the link between domestic abuse, in particular coercive control, to domestic homicides at Mrs Pattison's sister Deborah Kirk's request.
Speaking outside after the inquest with her parents Howard and Wendy Kirk, she said: "We will never really know why."
The family were found dead at their home within the grounds of the private boarding school in Surrey, where Mrs Pattison was the first ever female headmaster, in the early hours of 5 February last year.
A total of 11 cartridges had been discharged from a double-barrelled shotgun, nine of which caused injuries, including three to Mrs Pattison, five to Lettie and one to Mr Pattison, the inquest heard.
The court was told they had been watching rugby with friends and their children, the last of whom left around 7pm, before ordering a £50 Chinese takeaway on the evening of 4 February last year.
Ms Kirk said in a statement she received a phone call from her sister Mrs Pattison just before 11pm on 4 February, telling her that her husband had hit her and their dog, Bella.
She said her sister told her: "I need someone to come over."
Ms Kirk said she had a "voice of concern but not terror", adding: "She didn't sound frightened for her life and wasn't screaming for someone to help."
"It's more like she had assessed the situation and didn't feel safe," she said, explaining that it was the "same tenor as when George had smashed the television" on a previous occasion.
"The last thing I said was, 'I'll call you back in a minute'," she said.
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Ms Kirk and her husband Mark Miller took a taxi to Epsom, but further calls went unanswered and when he entered the house he found the bodies.
The court heard there was a "strong smell of alcohol" from Mr Pattison's body and a toxicology report revealed he was three times over the drink driving limit.
Shotgun licence
Paul Gregory, firearms licencing manager for Surrey and Sussex police, said Mr Pattison first applied for shotgun licence in 2012 with GP records forming part of the process for periodic renewal.
But the court heard police would have no knowledge of the medication he was later prescribed online unless he had declared it.
It may or not have been a bar to re-issue but "certainly would've been taken into consideration", the inquest was told.
Mr Pattison's father Michael Pattison said in a statement his son "wasn't a bad person but something terrible happened that night".
Reading a pen-portrait earlier, an emotional Ms Kirk said: "I can only speak for myself when I say I'm trying to forgive, I'm trying to work out how.
"I can only imagine you must've been in excruciating pain yourself to have carried out these acts, to have taken your own life along with the lives of those you loved.
"I hope we can do more to help someone in a similar kind of hell to yours."
She said her sister was "warm, beautiful" and kind in a way that "fills a room" and wept as she said Lettie "was becoming a reflection of her mother", describing her niece as "razor smart, curious, and disarmingly cute".
'Not just bodies in house of horrors'
Reading a statement after the inquest, Ms Kirk said: "Today we heard about death, we heard about bodies, guns, about killings, unlawful killings, about suicide.
"We heard what cartridge pellets due to the body of a 45-year-old woman. to that of a seven-year-old. We heard about times, places, scenes.
"We didn't hear about why. We will never really know why.
"But as we listen to this unbelievable account of death and family tragedy, we remember this - Emma lived around 16,000 days, Lettie lived nearly 3,000. This was just one of those days. Yes, it was their last and undoubtedly, their worst. But it was just one.
"These were people. Not just bodies lying in a house of horrors. They were people. Wonderful people. They were our people.
"With lives that were full of wonderful moments. Who they were is the part of them that those bullets could not touch. It is the part of them that couldn't be taken, that stays in our hearts and remains part of our family."
