Thread by @David_Challen

🧵 The head teacher Emma Pattison and her 7 y/o daughter, Lettie, who were killed by her husband was preparing to leave him, her sister has revealed.

Deborah Kirk said she regarded Emma’s relationship w/husband George as abusive + believed she was a victim of coercive control…

The series of powerful letters and passages published in The Sunday Times, were written after her sister and seven-year-old niece Lettie were killed.

“ …I set myself the brief of writing something each day, something honest about how I was feeling.”
thetimes.co.uk/article/my-sis…

Mrs Kirk wrote:

“I am trying to figure out what the lesson is here. It does not, for us, lie in ensuring they decide to leave – because she had, courageously, got that far.

It is, perhaps, in better navigating the exit.”

Mrs Kirk described how she had seen her sister the week before the tragedy and believed she had made her mind up to leave him and would emerge as a “success story” and a “survivor”.

She added:

“I looked forward to having my sister back. I looked forward to her having a loving relationship and looking back at this with amazement that she endured it for so long.”

Mrs Pattison had only recently been appointed head of Epsom College, one of the country’s leading independent schools, when she and her 7 y/o daughter, Lettie, were shot dead by her husband, George, a registered shotgun owner, who is then suspected of turning the gun on himself.

On the evening Mrs Pattison died, she made a distressed phone call to her sister saying there had been an altercation between her and her husband.

Mrs Kirk, a solicitor, immediately drove from her home in south-east London to Epsom, but by the time she and her husband arrived it was too late and all three were found dead at a property on the school grounds.

The inquests into the deaths had been due to take place in October but the coroner is awaiting further disclosure from Surrey Police and they have been delayed.

Mrs Kirk said in the aftermath of the tragedy she had found herself wondering if her sister had been killed because she had announced she was leaving her husband.

She also wrote:

“I am still learning about this dreadful and complicated misery to which too many people, primarily women, are being subjected, but let’s be clear on the basics. Since 2015 coercive control is a crime in this country.”

Two days after a police investigation update in September, Mrs Kirk wrote about how she saw the relationship as abusive:

“It seems that it was only when external, professional voices used the word abuse that she was able to listen, to have the perspective she needed.”

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Mrs Kirk added how her sister was going to be a survivor:

“She was going to be a success story, a survivor! I saw her the weekend before this nightmare and looked forward to having my sister back.”

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In a piece written the day after receiving a “harrowing update” from the police about the investigation, Mrs Kirk said:

“We thought we knew it all but we did not. We heard the story of our dearest girls and what they had suffered not just that evening but prior to it… ”

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The collection of thoughts, poems and songs shared by Deborah Kirk shines a harrowing light on the experiences of families bereaved of fatal domestic abuse. I know many who are affected by these issues will connect strongly and send their love and support to her and her family 💜

The Sunday Times article references ➡️ @winstonswish, a charity that helps bereaved children and who is noted as supporting Lettie’s school greatly in the aftermath of this horrific event.

To donate, please visit ⬇️
winstonswish.org/donate-online/

SOURCE: The Sunday Times ⬇️
thetimes.co.uk/article/my-sis…

EVERYONE should read Deborah's beautifully written words about the killing of her sister, Emma, and her seven-year-old niece, Lettie. They give a truly powerful and heartbreaking insight into fatal domestic abuse.

Share token to article (no paywall) ⬇️
thetimes.co.uk/article/9da9fd…