Mum still 'has job to do' in search for answers over daughter's US shooting

A mother whose daughter was shot dead by her father in Texas in what an inquest later ruled was an unlawful killing said she still "has a job to do" in her fight to have the case reopened.

Jane Coates travelled to Collin County in the US state to call on the district attorney to reinstate the investigation into her daughter's death.

Lucy Harrison, 23, from Warrington, Cheshire, was shot in the chest on 10 January 2025 in Prosper, near Dallas.

However, Coates said when she arrived at the town hall she was told the district attorney would not speak to her but said she remained determined as "I've got a job to do for my daughter".

Coates told BBC North West Tonight that going into the town hall building to try to speak to make contact was "intimidating" but this was "part of my journey as a mum that I need to be here for Lucy, no matter how hard and difficult it is".

Police in the town investigated Harrison's death as possible manslaughter but no criminal case was brought against her father Kris Harrison after a grand jury in Collin County declined to indict him.

In February, a coroner in England concluded Harrison had been unlawfully killed, finding that her father's actions amounted to gross negligence manslaughter under UK law.

Police in Texas have said they will not reopen the investigation, however.

Coates has now called on Prime Minister Andy Burnham to step in to back her bid to get the investigation reopened.

She said she was determined to keep fighting for her daughter and she hoped Burnham would help her, adding that "to have his backing publicly would really mean the world to me".

Having the support of people she had met in Texas had been "overwhelming", she added.

Coates is being supported by lawyer Radd Seiger, who has previously been an adviser to the family of Northamptonshire teenager Harry Dunn, who died when his motorcycle was hit by a car driven by US citizen Anne Sacoolas in 2019.

Seiger said the district attorney was up for re-election in a matter of weeks and they were appealing to local residents in Collin County, Texas, to "put pressure on" him to reopen the investigation.

He said it was "clear that this was an inadequate investigation" and "the only question now is why".

Harrison, who worked as a fashion buyer, was shot by her father at his home in Texas the day before she was due to fly home to the UK.

A grand jury in Collin County later decided there was insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges after Kris Harrison said the Glock handgun discharged accidentally while he was showing it to his daughter.

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