The parents of an 11-year-old girl British girl shot dead while playing on her garden swing in France are from Oldham. Solaine Thornton and her sister Celeste, eight, were in the garden during a barbecue at their home in the village of Saint-Herbot, near Quimper, Brittany, when an elderly neighbour allegedly opened fire at them with a shotgun through a hedge, it is reported.
The suspect, a 71-year-old Dutchman, is reported to have been in a long-running row with the family over a plot of land beside their properties. Carine Halley, the state prosecutor in Quimper, said the child was dead when police arrived.
The girl and her parents, Adrian and Rachel Thornton, were reportedly named by mayor of Plonevez-du-Faou Marguerite Bleuzen. They are both reported to have been shot in the head. Mr Thornton is understood to be in a critical condition.
