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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Peter Allen

Pensioner charged with murder after British girl Solaine Thornton, 11, shot dead in France

Solaine Thornton Dirk Raats France Murder Brest Police

A pensioner accused of shooting an 11-year-old British girl dead and severely wounding her parents at their home in northern France tonight said: “It’s so horrible what happened – I don’t understand it”.

Dirk Raats, 71, spoke briefly on Monday evening as he was formally charged with the murder of Solaine Thornton, 11, and the attempted murders of Adrian and Rachael Thornton, 52 and 49 respectively.

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