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Girl, 7, Was Shot Dead By Dad For 'Revenge'

Girl, 7, Was Shot Dead By Dad For 'Revenge'

An estranged father tracked down his seven-year-old daughter and shot her in the head on the doorstep of her new home, an inquest has heard.

Yasser Alromisse had spent months trying to find where his ex-wife and child were living before committing the "thoroughly despicable act of violence".

Mary Shipstone, also known as Maryam Alromisse, was gunned down as she returned from school after her first music lesson, and was clutching a new violin.

She was standing next to her mother, Lyndsey Shipstone, who was unlocking the front door of their house in Northiam in East Sussex at the time.

After the shooting, Alromisse turned the gun on himself. His body was found in the back of a car he had parked outside their "safe house".

Neighbours tried to revive Mary while waiting for the emergency services. She died of her injuries in hospital.

Mrs Shipstone and her daughter had moved out of the home they had shared with the 46-year-old amid claims he had turned abusive.

Hastings Coroner's Court heard how Alromisse had hired a private detective to try and find their new address - but the investigator withdrew his services because he was concerned the father would try and abduct his daughter.

On the day of Mary's murder on 11 September last year, Alromisse had hired a rental car and insisted to staff that it needed to be a car with tinted windows.

At the hearing, Coroner Alan Craze concluded Mary was unlawfully killed, and recorded her father's death as a suicide.

"It was not in any way spontaneous. It was pre-meditated over a long period of time," he added.

During the inquest, Mrs Shipstone described the day of the shooting, and said Mary was "very happy and excited" about her eighth birthday, which was a week away.

She told the court: "I was putting my key in the door, and I spoke to Mary, saying she'd like what I had done to her room, and that's the last thing I said to her.

"There was a terrific sound behind me like someone had burst a balloon.

"I turned around and the first thing I saw was Mary on the ground - her legs were crumpled behind her."

The mother said she soon realised her ex-partner had shot their daughter, as she could see his emotionless face in the backseat of a nearby Toyota.

Mrs Shipstone said she was unsure why Alromisse would have wanted to kill Mary, describing it as "such an extreme thing to do".

She went on: "He had the opportunity to shoot me as well, but he chose not to do it, and I was the one he supposedly hated the most.

"It's an act of revenge, really. It's got be. If he really loved her, he would never have inflicted that on her.

"He's left me bereft of a daughter."