Epsom College headteacher hit by her husband before she and daughter, 7, were shot, inquest hears

Emma Pattison described as ‘lightness itself’ by sister, who also paid tribute to ‘disarmingly cute’ niece Lettie

Epsom College headteacher Emma Pattison, 45 and her seven-year-old daughter Lettie (Family handout/PA) (PA Media)

The headteacher of Epsom College was hit by her husband shortly before he shot her and their seven-year-old daughter, before turning the weapon on himself, an inquest heard.

Emma Pattison and her daughter Lettie were found dead at their home within the grounds of the private boarding school in Surrey in February last year, alongside George Pattison, their husband and father respectively.

An inquest was previously told Mrs Pattison, 45, died of shotgun wounds to the chest and abdomen on February 5 2023, while Lettie was shot in the head.

Both are believed to have been murdered by 39-year-old chartered accountant Mr Pattison, before he killed himself.

Epsom College head Emma Pattison was killed aged 45 (John Wildgoose/Epsom College/PA) (PA Media)

Evidence from Deborah Kirk, the sister of Ms Pattison, was read to the inquest at Surrey Coroner’s Court in Woking on Tuesday.

She said she received a phone call from her sister just before 11pm on February 4, telling her that her husband had hit her and their dog, Bella.

She said her sister told her: “I need someone to come over.”

Her sister’s tone of voice was one of “concern, but not of terror”. “It was more like she had assessed the situation and did not feel safe,” she said.

She said she and her husband, Mark Miller, got an Uber to her sister’s home just after 11pm.

“I kept trying to call Emma but there was still no answer,” she said.

She added: “By the time we had arrived at Emma’s house I was getting really worried that she was not answering her phone.”

When they arrived at the house, all of the lights were on and the cars were in the driveway. Her husband entered the house ahead of her, and then stopped her from coming in any further once she entered.

“He said don’t go in there, don’t go in there, we are going outside,” she said.

Her husband called an ambulance, and paramedics arrived on the scene shortly afterwards.

Paying tribute to her sister, Ms Kirk described the headteacher as “lightness itself,” adding that she was “smart” and kind in a way that “fills a room” and “drives change”.

She described her niece, Lettie, as “razor smart, curious, and disarmingly cute.”

Recalling how she would comfort her when she was sad, she said: “I would hold her in my arms and say, yes it is hard to be seven, isn’t it monkey?”

Ms Kirk said she was still trying to forgive Mr Pattison.

“I can only speak for myself when I say that I am trying to forgive you,” she said. “I can only imagine that you were in an extraordinary hell of your own.”

Emma Pattison, her husband George, and seven-year-old daughter were found dead at their home on Epsom College school grounds (Getty Images)

The inquest heard that Ms Pattison watched rugby with her friends in the hours before she died, ordering a Chinese takeaway at 9.36pm after the friends had left.

In evidence read out to the court by the coroner, the delivery driver said: “She had a smiley face and seemed okay.”

The inquest heard that a post-mortem report found that Mr Pattison’s cause of death was a shotgun wound.

It also found that Ms Pattison and Lettie’s causes of death were shotgun wounds.

A toxicology report found that Mr Pattinson had 243 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, a quantity that is associated with a “high to extreme” level of intoxication.

The inquest continues.