Epsom College: Gun law plea renewed after family found dead

A woman fighting for changes to UK gun laws after her sister and nieces were shot dead has demanded immediate action after the Epsom College tragedy.

Emma Ambler's sister Kelly Fitzgibbons and her two daughters were killed in Sussex in 2020 by partner Robert Needham who then killed himself.

She spoke out after Epsom College head Emma Pattison was found dead with her daughter and husband on Sunday.

The Home Office said the UK had some of the strictest controls in the world.

George Pattison, 39, is thought to have shot his 45-year-old wife and their daughter Lettie, aged seven, before killing himself.

The accountant's legally-owned gun was found at their home in the school grounds.

The watchdog is not investigating police contact with Mr Pattison over his firearms licence.

Mrs Ambler is campaigning for much stricter controls on licences, however, including annual reviews of firearms licence-holders.

Currently the law states reviews must take place every five years.

Although few details have emerged about the Pattisons' deaths, the tragedy has caused very painful reminders for the family of Ms Fitzgibbons.

After she and her daughters were killed in Woodmancote, an inquest found Mr Needham was awarded a licence even though police found he lied on his application about periods of depression and a police caution he received as a youth.

Mrs Ambler, of Birmingham, has called for changes she said were "very easy and could be made with immediate effect".

She said: "They are to not grant gun licences to people who are found to be lying as part of the application process, as Rob did, and don't give gun licences to people with mental health issues or re-occurring episodes of depression, as Rob had.

"At my sister's inquest three separate police officers said reviews should be held annually, yet they aren't because they aren't resourced to do so."

She said a Home Office meeting had been delayed, adding: "If we keep waiting another family will lose their lives, and very tragically that has happened in Surrey."

A Home Office spokesman said a review followed shootings in Plymouth in 2021 when Jake Davison, 22, shot and killed five people and injured two others before he shot himself.

He said: "Police forces in England, Scotland and Wales were asked to urgently review their firearms licensing practices, confirming that forces were adhering to the guidance for issuing and reviewing them."

A meeting date with the Kelly Fitzgibbons Foundation would be finalised, he added.

Inquests into the deaths in Plymouth are ongoing and Mr Davison's is still to be held.