David Lammy failed to provide emotional or legal support to the heartbroken family of a British graduate who was shot dead by her father at his US home, an MP has claimed.
Lucy Harrison was shot through the heart on January 10, 2025, by her father Kris Harrison, a British citizen, while he was ‘showing off’ his gun at his home in Prosper, Texas.
Harrison, 52, was never arrested over the death of the 23-year-old fashion graduate – who was booked to fly back home to Warrington, Cheshire, with her boyfriend Sam Littler later that same day.
He admitted to drinking alcohol on the day of the shooting. Ms Harrison, who was ‘categorically anti-gun’, had reportedly argued with her father about Donald Trump shortly before the incident.
Last year a grand jury in Texas – a panel of citizens that determines whether there is sufficient evidence to formally charge an individual – decided not to issue an indictment.
However a UK coroner recorded a verdict of unlawful killing in February following an inquest into Ms Harrison’s death, during which police documents and statements from officers, Harrison and Mr Littler were examined.
Sarah Hall, the Labour MP for Warrington South, has joined forces with her mother Jane Coates and Mr Littler – who have been campaigning for the US to reopen the investigation.
The MP claims the Foreign Office, under the then-foreign secretary David Lammy, failed to offer adequate legal and emotional support to the family – and did not push for answers.
Ms Hall, who is the Labour MP where Ms Harrison lived, told a Sunday newspaper Ms Harrison’s parents Jane and Sam Coates ‘have been let down from day one by everyone’.
She said: ‘[We know from] the coroner’s report that from the trajectory of where she had been shot, there’s no other way that it could have happened other than him standing in front of her, and having pointed a gun at her’.
The MP plans to raise Ms Harrison’s case in parliament and call on the Government to pressure US authorities to review the case.
Ms Coates hopes the coroner’s findings around Harrison’s ‘recklessness’, while under the influence of alcohol, could lead to a fresh US investigation.
While she does not think Harrison intended his actions, she believes he acted carelessly after drinking – which was the conclusion Cheshire coroner Jacqueline Devonish also reached.
Bodycam footage of police arriving at the house following the shooting showed Mr Harrison saying the gun ‘went off’ as he was showing it to his daughter.
However, Cheshire Coroner’s Court heard inconsistencies in Harrison’s account were revealed by police records and statements from Ms Harrison’s friends and family.
The former Manchester Metropolitan University student was raised in a single-parent household by primary school deputy headteacher Ms Coates, who divorced Harrison when her daughter was four.
Ms Harrison remained in touch with her father, former CEO of a telecoms company, who moved to Saudi Arabia and later Texas. In the US, he remarried and had two daughters with second wife Heather.
She regularly visited him and her half-sisters during the summer and at Christmas.
But the inquest heard she expressed concern to friends about her father owning a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol in the house where her siblings lived.
Harrison, who had no licence or training, bought the pistol for $500 (£370) two years before his daughter’s death – but in Texas, owning a firearm at home without a licence is legal for self-defence.
Mr Littler, Ms Harrison’s boyfriend of five years, recalled how on the morning of the tragedy she and her father argued about sexual assault claims against Donald Trump.
He said Ms Harrison asked her father: ‘How would you feel if I was the girl and I’d been sexually assaulted?’.
Ms Harrison was ‘left upset’ when her father replied ‘he had two other daughters so it would not bother him much’.
Later in the afternoon, Mr Littler said Harrison led his daughter into his bedroom, telling her ‘I have a gun, do you want to see it?’
Seconds later, there was a loud bang and Harrison screamed for his wife, Heather.
Mr Littler, who called 911, recalled how while he was speaking to emergency services, Harrison spoke out but never said Ms Harrison had been shot – instead claiming she had passed out.
After reviewing the US post-mortem examination report and other police statements, the UK coroner ruled: ‘To shoot her through the chest whilst she was standing would have required him to have been pointing the gun at his daughter without checking for bullets and pulled the trigger. I find this action to be reckless.’
Ms Hall criticised Prosper police’s handling of the case, which she described as being ‘absolutely rushed’, and questioned why Harrison was not breathalysed despite an officer reportedly smelling alcohol on his breath.
She added that police failed to conduct proper interviews or follow-up with initial interviews held hours after Ms Harrison’s death.
The MP wrote to Mr Lammy in February expressing ‘very serious concerns’ about how the case was handled by both US and UK authorities – and added the ‘lack of support’ the family received from the Foreign Office.
This included consular officers failing to explain crucial aspects of the US justice system to the family, including the role of the grand jury.
At one stage the Foreign Office withdrew access to support services typically offered to families of homicide victims, including emotional and legal assistance.
Although the power to investigate Ms Harrison’s death remains with American authorities, a Foreign Office caseworker told Ms Coates in March last year it had the authority to intervene if there is a ‘high level of complexity’.
This followed Ms Coates lodging a complaint, in which she said the Government had failed to guide her through the available support. The Foreign Office justified this by describing the case as being ‘uniquely complex’.
The Foreign Office also failed to maintain contact with US authorities regarding the progression of the investigation.
Ms Hall said, despite the individualistic nature of the case, she would have expected the Foreign Office to assist the family.
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: ‘Our thoughts remain with Jane and her family for the tragic loss they have suffered, and we will always look to learn lessons from cases such as this one to improve the consular support we offer to other families in the future.’
