Surrey police will not face any further investigation over its contact with George Pattison days before he was found dead alongside his wife, Emma, the headteacher at Epsom College, and their seven-year-old daughter, Lettie, the police watchdog has said.
A firearm, registered to Pattison, was found at the scene and police are treating the deaths as a homicide investigation.
Surrey police was in contact with Pattison, 39, on Thursday 2 February before they were found dead in the early hours of Sunday 5 February.
He had notified the force of a change of address for the licence, after moving from Caterham in Surrey to live on school grounds.
A police spokesperson said it was routine but due to the short time between the communication and the incident, they had referred themselves to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
The IOPC said on Friday that it had “reviewed the recent and past contact Surrey police had with Mr Pattison regarding his firearms licence and have decided no investigation is required”.
It added: “We have reminded the force of its obligations, and that if evidence were to come to light that anyone serving with the police may have breached standards of professional behaviour or committed a criminal offence in connection with this, they should refer relevant matters to us.”
Emma Pattison, 45, had become the school’s first female head in September. It is now closed until after the half-term break after the incident. She had previously been headteacher at Croydon high school, a private day school for girls just outside London.
Police say an investigation is being carried out to establish what happened on Saturday night.
Postmortems were due to take place this week, with Surrey police adding they would not confirm causes of death until they have taken place.
DCI Kimball Edey, the senior investigating officer, said: “These events have been shocking and distressing for everyone involved. We continue to support the wider family with specialist officers and request that, having been subject to widespread local and national attention, they are afforded a level of privacy during this difficult time.
“We fully appreciate the concern this incident has caused within the local community and my team are working hard to establish the full circumstances and will provide any updates as appropriate in due course.”
• In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
