[Cherie]

Lot of reports today

The husband of Epsom College head teacher Emma Pattison was three times over the alcohol driving limit before his death from a gunshot wound to the head, an inquest has heard.

Mrs Pattison and her seven-year-old daughter Lettie were found dead at their home within the grounds of the Surrey boarding school in February last year.

George Pattison, Mrs Pattison’s husband and Lettie’s father, was also found dead. He is believed to have shot them both before killing himself.

At an inquest into their deaths at Surrey Crown Court on Tuesday, senior coroner Richard Travers said Mr Pattison was “approximately three times the statutory [alcohol] limit for driving” at the time.

Mr Travers added: “George Pattison was a well-nourished adult male that showed no signs of natural disease. He died as a consequence of a shotgun wound to the head.”

Toxicology reports suggested the level of alcohol in Mr Pattison’s blood would be associated with a “high to extreme degree of intoxication” in an average social drinker, the court heard.

A very low concentration of propranolol, a drug prescribed for anxiety, was also found in toxicology reports but not conclusively confirmed.