- Welcome to The Crime Desk, the Daily Mail’s true crime channel packed full of stories on the cases you can’t stop thinking about
- To get a free exclusive article with new revelations about one of Britain’s most notorious child killers, sign up to our newsletter HERE
- What kind of cases do YOU want to read more about? Let us know at: crimedesk@dailymail.co.uk
A mother whose daughter was shot by her father at his US home is demanding American police reopen the case after a British coroner ruled his actions ‘reckless’.
An unlawful killing verdict was recorded following an inquest into the death of Lucy Harrison, 23 – shot through the heart by Kris Harrison while he was ‘showing off’ his gun.
Jane Coates, 49, believes US police failed to examine the recklessness of Harrison’s actions, his intoxication or contradictions in his account.
Lucy died in the town of Prosper, Texas, on January 10 last year, the day she and boyfriend Sam Littler were due to fly home to Warrington, Cheshire.
Concluding an inquest last month, Cheshire Coroner Jacqueline Devonish said: ‘To shoot her through the chest whilst she was standing would have required him to have been pointing the gun without checking for bullets and pulled the trigger. I find this reckless.’
Ms Coates believes her daughter would have wanted a full investigation.
She said: ‘The person I want in my mind and in my heart is Lucy. She cared about the truth.
‘Those who really know Lucy’s heart can hear her loud and clear and know exactly what she would want us to do … Make change, do better, be better.’
She told The Sunday Times she hopes the coroner’s findings about Harrison’s ‘recklessness’ – while under the influence of alcohol – could lead to a fresh US investigation.
Ms Coates believed her daughter was safe with Harrison, who lived in an affluent suburb popular with expats.
I’m Tom Rawstorne, and nearly 30 years ago a 12–year–old murderer, with a gold crucifix hanging round her neck, gave me a moment I’ll never forget.
Sharon Carr is to this day Britains’s youngest–ever female murderer, having killed an 18–year–old hairdresser in an unproved act of gruesome violence. I watched her up close in court for three weeks and it’s something I’l never forget. I’ve written about it in The Crime Desk newsletter – sign up to read it for free.
She ‘couldn’t comprehend it’ when Mr Littler’s mother knocked on her door, telling her: ‘There’s been an accident … Lucy’s been shot and she’s not made it’.
While Coates does not believe Harrison intend his actions, she feels he acted carelessly after drinking.
Prosper Police opened a ‘criminally negligent homicide’ investigation but deemed the tragedy ‘accidental’ within a day.
Harrison was never arrested and a grand jury decided against issuing an indictment.
Cheshire coroner’s court heard inconsistencies in Harrison’s account were revealed by police records and statements from Lucy’s friends and family.
Lucy was raised in a single-parent household by primary school deputy headteacher Ms Coates, who divorced Harrison when her daughter was four.
Lucy remained in touch with Harrison, 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.
He and his family flew back to Britain in 2024 for Lucy’s graduation with a first-class degree in fashion from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Lucy made regular summer and Christmas visits to Harrison and her half-sisters.
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 Lucy’s death – but in Texas, owning a firearm at home without a licence is legal for self-defence.
Lucy’s best friend, Ella Gowing, told the inquest: ‘She did not want [the girls] to be around something so dangerous.
‘She said that there was volatility in Kris’s household which… made her feel extremely anxious.’
Mr Littler, Lucy’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 Lucy asked Harrison, ‘how would you feel if I was the girl and I’d been sexually assaulted?’.
Lucy 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 Lucy had been shot – instead claiming she had passed out.
Police bodyworn camera footage showed Harrison later in the day, stood with arms folded, claiming Lucy had asked to see his gun. He added: ‘I got it out and it just went off’.
Lucy’s family say she already knew he had a firearm and would never have wanted to see it.
Despite an officer smelling alcohol on Harrison’s breath, police did not breathalyse Harrison – who admitted drinking.
Ms Coates, who finds it ‘very hard to feel anything’ about her ex-husband, said: ‘We will never know how much Kris drank that morning … that’s not good enough’.
No further comment was issued by Liverpool-born Harrison, 52, while Prosper Police Department said it conducted a ‘thorough investigation’.
