British graduate, 23, was shot dead by her alcoholic father in bedroom of his Texas home, inquest hears

A British graduate was shot dead by her alcoholic father at his Texas home hours before she was due to fly home after spending Christmas there, an inquest was told today.

A manslaughter investigation was launched after Lucy Harrison, 23, from Warrington, Cheshire, was killed at her father Kris’s house in Prosper, Texas, on January 10, 2025.

A police report found she died of a gunshot wound to the chest after being ‘shot by another person’ from a ‘medium range’.

US police investigated her death as a case of ‘negligent manslaughter’.

But after assessing the evidence in private, in June last year a grand jury found that no one should be prosecuted.

Speaking at the time, her mother, Jane Coates, described the decision as ‘baffling’ and ‘beyond comprehension’.

Today at an inquest into her death it emerged for the first time that Ms Harrison was fatally shot by her father in a bedroom at the property, and that no-one else was present.

It was also told that Mr Harrison had a history of alcoholism and that questions would be raised over his level of training with firearms and whether he knew there was a bullet in the gun.

The circumstances of the fashion buyer’s death were revealed as lawyers representing her father unsuccessfully asked a coroner to step aside from the case, accusing her of being ‘biased’.

Ana Samuel, representing Mr Harrison, accused senior coroner Jacqueline Devonshire of conducting inquiries which were ‘more akin to a criminal investigation’ for allegedly failing to share documents with his lawyers.

But lawyers representing Mrs Coates accused her of staging ‘an ambush’ in an attempt to put off the inquest.

Setting out her arguments at Cheshire coroner’s court, Ms Norris, on behalf of Ms Harrison’s mother, said it was Mr Harrison who had shot his daughter, and was the only person in the bedroom where it happened.

Saying Mr Harrison’s issues with alcohol were relevant to examining what happened, she told the coroner: ‘You’re going to have to deal with the events of how Ms Harrison came to be in the room, and whether alcohol had been consumed.’

Rejecting the application to recuse herself, the coroner said the submissions had failed to provide evidence of bias.

Ms Devonish said Mr Harrison – who is not attending the hearing – had been given ample opportunity to set out his account of what happened and respond to what other witnesses would say.

The coroner added that Mr Harrison had ‘lied’ to police in Texas about his drinking.

Ms Harrison’s mother and her daughter’s boyfriend, Sam Littler, who accompanied her on the tragic trip to Texas, listened in silence as the lawyers made their arguments.

They are due to give evidence later today.

Along with her boyfriend, Ms Harrison was visiting her father, who is believed to have family in Southport.

They had been due to fly back to Manchester on the day she was shot after visiting family over the Christmas period. 

Tragically she died the day she was shot at 3.47pm local time. 

A police report at the time revealed there were five witnesses to the incident, including two children.

The document, which was seen by the Daily Mail, said a ‘suspect’ had been identified in the case.

But Prosper Police Department said later that the case had gone through the courts in the US with ‘no prosecution’.

Ms Harrison earned a first-class degree in fashion buying and merchandising at Manchester Metropolitan University before securing her ‘dream job’ at Boohoo as a buyer’s admin assistant. 

Speaking last June, Mrs Coates, a deputy manager at a primary school, said: ‘Although we have tried so hard to prepare for this moment, it is a brutal outcome to accept.

‘It is baffling and beyond comprehension to us, our families and friends, that there is to be no accountability for what happened to my daughter.

‘The international element, coupled with a different legal system, practice, and thresholds, makes the outcome even harder and more frustrating to accept.’

She also thanked those around her for their support and said she hopes to engage with groups in Texas working to prevent gun deaths, something she says Lucy would have been a ‘fierce advocate’ for.  

An autopsy report from Chester Gwin, MD assistant county medical examiner for Collin County, found she died as a result of a single gunshot wound fired by another person.

It also confirmed Lucy tested negative for alcohol and drugs and was pronounced dead at the Baylor Scott and White Medical Centre in Texas on January 10.

Just hours before being shot she was posing for photographs in the snow. 

A tribute from Lucy’s mother and boyfriend, released by Cheshire Police, said: ‘Lucy was life. She lived it fiercely and fearlessly, not being afraid to feel all that life has to offer. Lucy unashamedly loved – she had a huge capacity to love and be loved.

‘She was the embodiment of wonderful contradictions; she adored travel and being away, experiencing new places and cultures, yet at the same time, she loved nothing more than snuggling up in her pyjamas with her candles on at home.

‘She could be dramatic and elaborate situations like it was the end of the world, yet she could also be straight talking and not afraid to have bold conversations.

‘She was truly thriving in life and although this gives us great comfort, we are utterly heartbroken at the loss of our beautiful, gorgeous Luce.’

Ms Harrison’s funeral was held at St Elphin’s Parish Church in Warrington on February 24 last year, with 400 people inside. 

‘At Lucy’s funeral, my message to people was for them to continue to live their life fiercely and fearlessly like Lucy did,’ her mother told the Liverpool Echo at the weekend. 

‘She wasn’t afraid, she wasn’t afraid to feel.’

The inquest continues.