Emma Pattison: Epsom College headteacher ‘called for help’

The headteacher of a top private school in Surrey made a “frantic” phone call to her sister “minutes” before she was killed by her husband, according to a report.

Emma Pattison’s call caused relatives to “jump into a car and drive out” to her home on the grounds of Epsom College, said the Daily Mail, “but tragically they arrived too late”. The bodies of Pattison, her husband George and seven-year-old daughter Lettie were discovered in the early hours of Sunday.

The deaths have “shocked the prestigious independent school and the wider community in the Surrey town”, said Sky News. Epsom College will remain closed until after the half-term break.

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Acting headteacher Paul Williams has asked the parents of pupils to keep a “close eye” on their children following the “incredibly distressing” news, the BBC reported.

Surrey Police confirmed that they have launched a murder investigation. According to the Mail, police believe George Pattison may have shot his wife and daughter before turning the gun on himself. He had a licence for a firearm, which was recovered from the scene.

The police force has referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after it emerged that officers had been in contact with the headteacher’s husband days before the killings to confirm the address on his licence.

Pattison joined the school as headteacher in September last year, after six years as head at Croydon High School. She “was the first woman to become head of the school”, said Sky. Her husband was a chartered accountant.

Speaking on the school’s podcast in December, she told students there had been “a lot of change for us as a family” but that it had been “wonderful”.

“We’ve bought a dog. I’ve got a new job, my husband has got a new job, which wasn’t meant to happen but it did, and my daughter has started a new school,” she said.