LINCOLNSHIRE – Lance Hart, 57, killed his wife Claire, 50, and daughter Charlotte, 19, outside the Castle Sports Complex, in Spalding, Lincolnshire, on 19 July. He shot the pair with a single-barrel shotgun before turning it on himself. The killings happened days after Mrs Hart had left the family home following a breakdown in the couple’s marriage.
A verdict of unlawful killing on Charlotte and Mrs Hart and suicide on Mr Hart was returned by coroner Paul Cooper. The coroner said Hart, “knew exactly what he was going to do. It was a single-barrel shotgun, so it was not a question of him just shooting his wife, he then had to unload it, put another cartridge in and shoot it again. In my view, this was a cold, calculated, scheming man who went out and deliberately murdered his wife and daughter. If he had lived… he would have been charged with murder, unfortunately he didn’t live to face the consequences of his actions. He took his own life.”
Leisure centre manager Alex Marchant found the family and was told by Charlotte, “it was my dad who shot me.”
A memory stick had been found in Mr Hart’s car, carrying a 12-page note of what he planned to do, in which he had written, “Revenge is a dish served cold.”
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