AN inquest has heard that a 23-year-old British woman shot dead by her father in the United States had argued with him about Donald Trump just hours before her death.
Lucy Harrison was staying with her father, Kris Harrison, and his family in Texas when she was fatally shot in the chest on 10 January 2025.
Cheshire Coroner’s Court was told on Monday (10 February) that Lucy had travelled to the US with her boyfriend, Sam Littler, for a holiday to visit her father, who had emigrated there when she was a child.
Giving evidence, Mr Littler described a “big argument” between Lucy and her father on the morning of 10 January, days before Mr Trump was due to be inaugurated as US president.
“Kris and Lucy ended up having quite a big argument which led to Lucy running upstairs and being upset,” he said.
Mr Littler told the court that during the exchange Lucy had asked her father: “How would you feel if I was the girl in that situation and I’d been sexually assaulted?”
Mr Trump has faced allegations of sexual misconduct from multiple women, which he has denied, previously claiming they were “paid to make up stories”.
According to Mr Littler, Mr Harrison responded by saying he had two other daughters living with him and that it “wouldn’t upset him that much”.
The court heard that later that day, around half an hour before they were due to leave for the airport, Lucy had been in the kitchen when her father asked her to go with him into his bedroom.
“Fifteen seconds later I heard a loud bang and Kris started screaming for his wife,” Mr Littler said.
“I remember running into the room and Lucy was lying on the floor near the entrance to the bathroom and Kris was just screaming, just sort of nonsense.”
Mr Harrison did not attend the inquest. In a statement read to the court, he said he and his daughter had been watching a news report about gun crime when he asked if she wanted to see his firearm.
He said Lucy agreed and they went into his bedroom, where he kept a Glock 9mm semi-automatic handgun in a bedside cabinet. Mr Harrison said he had purchased the weapon a couple of years earlier to give his family a “sense of security”.
In his statement, he said he could not recall whether his finger had been on the trigger when he picked up the gun.
“As I lifted the gun to show her I suddenly heard a loud bang. I did not understand what had happened. Lucy immediately fell,” he said.
Mr Harrison also told the court he had “briefly lapsed” into drinking alcohol that day because he was emotional about Lucy’s impending departure, stating he had consumed around half a litre of white wine earlier.
The inquest heard that a grand jury in the United States later determined there was insufficient evidence to bring charges in connection with Lucy’s death.
Lucy’s mother, Jane Coates, described her daughter as a “real force of life”.
“She cared. She was passionate about things. She loved to have debates about things that meant a lot to her,” she said.
In a statement issued through his solicitors, Mr Harrison said: “I fully accept the consequences of my actions, and there isn’t a day I don’t feel the weight of that loss — a weight I will carry for the rest of my life. I know that nothing I say can ease the heartbreak this tragedy has caused.
“I cannot undo what happened, but I can honour Lucy by being the best father I can be to her sisters and by carrying her memory forward in everything we do.
“I am deeply sorry for the pain others feel from this tragedy. Lucy’s spirit — her warmth, her humour, her kindness — will live on in all of us who loved her.”
