British mother visits Texas to demand reopening of daughter's shooting case
Jane Coates travelled to Collin County, Texas, to meet prosecutors over the 2025 shooting death of her daughter Lucy Harrison, 23. A grand jury declined to indict the father.
British mother flies to Texas demanding answers over daughter's fatal shooting
Jane Coates travelled thousands of miles to Collin County, Texas, on Monday to push prosecutors and police to reopen the case into the death of her 23-year-old daughter, Lucy Harrison, who was shot and killed at her father's home in Prosper on 10 January 2025, nbcdfw.com reports.
Harrison died from a single gunshot wound to the chest, sustained in a bedroom approximately 15 minutes before she and her boyfriend were due to leave for the airport. An autopsy conducted on 13 January 2025 determined the manner of death as homicide. The bullet travelled front to back, right to left, at a downward angle, at medium range. No drugs or alcohol were found in her system.
A Collin County grand jury returned a "no bill" in June 2025, declining to indict Harrison's father — who is British but had relocated to North Texas and remarried — following an investigation by the Prosper Police Department and the Texas Rangers.
Coates, accompanied by her adviser and spokesman Radd Seiger, arrived at the Collin County District Courthouse in McKinney on Monday morning hoping to secure face-to-face meetings with District Attorney Greg Willis and lead prosecutor Bill Wirskye. Staff informed the pair that neither official was in the building that day.
"It's been incredibly emotional for me to be able to come here, travelling thousands of miles, and I would travel a thousand more and infinite miles for my daughter as I know every parent would," Coates said outside the courthouse. "It doesn't matter if you're an English parent, a British parent, an American parent, you would fight to the ends of the earth for your child."
After the unsuccessful visit to McKinney, the group drove to the Prosper Police Department, where they again met a spokesman described as empathetic and respectful but emerged without the meeting they had sought.
"It's really tragic that me, as a bereaved mum, is feeling disappointed and angry but not surprised," Coates said in Prosper.
Both Coates and Seiger said they had informed the DA's office and the Prosper Police Department in advance of their plans to visit, hoping to arrange meetings with senior officials. They were accompanied by friends, reporters, and a British documentary team.
Seiger outlined the family's core concern: that investigators accepted the father's initial account at face value without sufficient scrutiny.
"Mr Harrison's account at the beginning was: the gun just went off, and it was an accident," Seiger told reporters. "The police, instead of being professionally curious and having an open mind, just accepted that account and everything just flowed from there."
The case has attracted international attention, in part because of reported tensions between Harrison and her father in the lead-up to the shooting. Seiger said the family believes a disagreement may have taken place.
"We think there was a disagreement over Trump and guns, but we don't know because Lucy isn't here to speak for herself," he said.
Harrison's boyfriend was present at the home during the shooting but was not in the room when it occurred. He was questioned by police and allowed to fly back to the United Kingdom the following day. Coates and Seiger said it was not entirely clear what, if anything, the father's wife or the boyfriend heard immediately before the shot was fired.
The family and their supporters are not alleging murder. Their position, as stated by Seiger, is that the death was not accidental and that the original investigation was incomplete and flawed.
"We're not saying he murdered her," Seiger said. "We don't know what his intent was, but this was not an accident. You just think about why on earth are we from the UK coming all the way over here to do this? It's because it's so obviously wrong what's happened here that it has to be redone; it has to be reinvestigated, it has to be presented to the grand jury again."
The Collin County District Attorney's Office issued a statement on Monday setting out the sequence of events:
"Lucy's tragic death was investigated by the Prosper Police Department, with assistance from the Texas Rangers. Neither agency found probable cause to make an arrest. Law enforcement forwarded to us the results of their investigation for presentation to a Collin County Grand Jury. This was done in June of 2025, and the Grand Jury determined, based on all the evidence, that no criminal indictment was warranted. Lucy's loved ones were kept fully informed at every step of the process, and we understand the Grand Jury's decision was not the result they desired. Our prayers continue to go out to them."
The group held up a banner bearing a photograph of Harrison at both locations they visited. Coates described her daughter as someone who loved music and had a strong sense of fashion.
Outside the courthouse, Coates addressed the standard she was asking officials to meet.
"I just wanted, in this very impressive building, to have the opportunity to sit with the investigators and with the DA for them to look me in the eye and tell me, how was this investigation 'rigorous' and 'thorough' then," she said. "I am a reasonable person. I am willing to listen, but then surely, they would extend me the courtesy to do the same to me as well."
The Prosper Police Department had not released a full statement by the time of publication, according to nbcdfw.com.
Source: The Sun