THE boyfriend of a woman shot dead by her own father has spoken out for the first time after an inquest ruled the death an unlawful killing.

Lucy Harrison, a 23-year-old British graduate, was shot through the heart by her dad Kris Harrison at his home in Prosper, Texas on January 10, 2025.

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Lucy Harrison with dad Kris Harrison who shot her at his home in TexasCredit: Facebook
 

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Cheshire Police said Lucy died on Friday, January 10, ‘following an incident at her father’s home in Prosper, Texas’Credit: Facebook
Sam Littler has now given harrowing account of being at the police station after the shooting: “I was 23 years old, alone in Texas, and had just found out that my girlfriend had died”.

He added: “From my understanding, it felt as though the situation was already being viewed as a ‘terrible accident’ before I was questioned as a witness.”

Kris and Lucy were alone at the time of her death and the 52-year-old said he had been showing a firearm to his daughter.

Sam has now questioned whether the Grand Jury in Texas was given the full evidence before it decided not to press charges.

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Lucy Harrison’s mother Jane Coates (centre), her friend Ella Gowing (left) and her boyfriend Sam Littler outside Cheshire Coroner’s CourtCredit: PA
 

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Sam said he has been left with questions after Lucy’s deathCredit: Facebook
He said several areas raised at coroner’s court, including Kris’ alcohol consumption and firearm handling, have given him concerns over how the investigation was dealt with in Texas.

Kris, a British citizen, chose not to attend the inquest in the UK as he said it would be too emotionally difficult.

On February 11 Cheshire Coroner’s Court ruled that Lucy had been unlawfully killed.

Sam said: “I agree with the coroner’s conclusions and the findings reached at the inquest. Hearing the evidence in full was devastating, but it confirmed many of the concerns I had carried privately since Lucy’s death.”

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Sam and Lucy had just bought a home together in Warrington when they visited Kris in Prosper after Christmas 2023.

Shortly before he was expected to drive the couple to the airport, Kris took his daughter by the hand and into his bedroom.

Sam heard a bang 15 seconds later and Kris called out for his wife Heather, the inquest heard.

Heather, Sam and Lucy’s sisters ran into the room to find her on the floor.

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Sam said he was not allowed to go in the ambulance with his girlfriendCredit: Facebook
 

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Sam has spoken out for the first time following the death of his girlfriend of five yearsCredit: Facebook
In his statement, Sam described how events unfolded for him: “I was not allowed to go with Lucy in the ambulance. Instead, I was placed in the back of a police car for more than two hours without any updates, despite repeatedly asking for information about her condition.

“During that time, I was asked to write a statement alone in the back of the police car, while still not knowing whether Lucy was alive.”

Sam said he and Kris were later taken to a police station for further interviews but not given any updates on his girlfriend’s condition.

He described hearing snippets of a phone call where the shooting was called an “accident”.

“At the time it left me concerned that preliminary assumptions about the circumstances may already have been developing before my own account had been fully obtained,” he wrote.

Sam said he then saw Kris leave the station and the dad tried to put an arm around his shoulder and say “Everything is going to be alright”.

Moments later a Texas Ranger told Sam that Lucy was dead and he said he was “given only a few minutes before being asked further questions.”

Sam, Lucy’s boyfriend of five years, said he raised concerns about he dad’s alcohol abuse but was later told Kris did not cross the threshold for alcohol testing.

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An inquest concluded that Lucy’s death was an unlawful killingCredit: Facebook
 

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Kris did not attend the inquest in the UK citing emotional difficultyCredit: PA
CCTV footage from the inquest showed Kris purchasing two 500ml cartons of wine approximately two hours before the shooting.

“Despite officers being aware that alcohol had been consumed, and despite Kris being the only other person in the room when Lucy was shot, no breathalyser or blood alcohol test was carried out,” Sam said.

Following the police interview, Sam revealed: “I was asked to call Lucy’s mum, Jane, to inform her of Lucy’s death. I found this extremely distressing. When she did not answer, I was asked to call my own mum and ask her to go to Jane’s house.”

“I was advised to say, ‘there has been a terrible accident, Lucy has been shot and is no longer with us,” he added.

Sam said he was then told to return to the home but he refused insisting he did not want contact with Kris and so stayed with a volunteer chaplain who then drove him to the airport the next day.

Almost a month passed before Sam heard back from the District Attorney. The office called him and proceeded to incorrectly state several of Lucy’s personal circumstances, he said.

“As a bereaved family, we found this upsetting and difficult to understand”.

The Texas Ranger admitted on the call that he initially thought the scene looked like a homicide, Sam added.

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Jane Coates previously blasted cops who ‘let her down’ after ‘ignoring evidence’Credit: Sky News
 

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The couple were due to fly back to the UK the day that Lucy diedCredit: Facebook
He continued: “I recognise that the Grand Jury process in Texas is confidential and that no criminal charge was brought.

“I do not know exactly what evidence was presented. I have therefore been left with seeking further understanding following the evidence heard during the UK inquest.”

He said the inquest found that Kris had been secretly drinking that day, also that the weapon would have been pointed in Lucy’s direction from across the room, and the trigger pulled without first checking for bullets.

“I find this action to be reckless,” the coroner previously concluded.

Sam added: “She did not accept aspects of Kris’ statement, including Kris’ account that the gun had ‘just gone off’, references to a television segment about gun crime, or the claim Lucy had asked to see the firearm, which is consistent with everything I knew about [Lucy] and her strong views on firearms.”

Lucy had previously expressed concern about how her dad had a Glock 9mm semi-automatic pistol in the house where her sisters lived.

She had remained in touch with Kris, a former CEO of a telecoms company, after he moved to Texas, remarried and had two children.

The fashion graduate often visited the family during holidays.

Sam added in his statement that he found bodycam footage of Kris after the shooting to be “painful”.

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He said: “There was a “moment where someone said, ‘They were due to go back today’, to which the response heard was, ‘Well they’re not now.’”