Jealous ex-boyfriend 'executed partner and daughter, 4, after discovering secret affair on Facebook'

Daily mail online - A secret affair begun on Facebook may have provoked a jealous ex-boyfriend to shooting dead his former partner and their four-year-old daughter, an inquest has heard.

Andrew Copland, 56, callously executed Julie Harrison, 40, and their little girl Maisie in a bloodbath at his home before turning the gun on himself just days after Christmas last year.

A coroner heard that Copland fired a bullet into the back of ex-partner Julie's head and shot Maisie in the side of the head using a World War II handgun he found in a skip 12 years ago.

Slaughtered: Maisie hugs her
mother Julie Harrison. They were
both shot dead by Julie's former
partner Andrew Copland

Andy Copland, aged 18, holding a gun in the back garden of his home in Aldershot. After killing his partner and daughter, he turned the handgun on himself

It was feared he killed them both after discovering that Julie was having a secret relationship with an old schoolfriend whom she reconnected with via social networking site Facebook.

The bloodbath was discovered when a worried neighbour dialled 999 after seeing Julie banging on the inside of a window of her former home in a desperate cry for help.

Investigators believe the mother was shot first and then Copland aimed the 9mm gun at close range at Maisie and blasted her in the head just above her left ear.

The coroner heard that Julie was shot from a distance in the back of the head before Copland knelt down and blasted himself in the head.

An inquest into the triple deaths heard that Julie was estranged from Copland and had been in a secret relationship with a former schoolfriend. 

The pair had gone to great lengths to hide the affair from Copland.

Her new boyftriend, Lee Johnston, told how he had regained contact with Julie through Facebook and had started a casual relationship.

He told the inquest in Alton, Hampshire, how the pair were together on the morning that she was murdered and had been due to met up later that day.

'She had told me Andrew had been violent on a number of occasions. He had punched her and pushed her down the stairs,' Mr Johnston said.

'He had also hit her in front of Maisie on one occasion.'  

Julie kept a separate mobile phone that she used, just to contact Mr Johnston, in an effort to hide the relationship from Copland.

'Our relationship was not public knowledge because she did not want Andrew to find out because she was scared of what he might do,' Mr Johnston told the inquest.

A police officer stands outside the house where the killings took place

Maisie aged four: The inquest heard the killings may have been triggered by Julie's secret affair with a former schoolfriend

'She thought that he would be violent to her and any man that she was seeing.' 

Mr Johnston, who lives in Northampton, had stayed the night at Julie's rented flat prior to her murder.

He left on December 29 before Maisie woke up and was due to return after she had dropped Maisie off at her father's home in Church Hill, Aldershot.

When she failed to return or answer his phone calls or texts, he drove to Church Hill Aldershot and discovered the road cordoned off by the police.

The coroner heard that ballistic tests revealed that all three were shot by a 9mm calibre self-loading baretta handgun, which Copland had found in a builder's skip, complete with ammunition.

The body of little Maisie was discovered lifeless in the dining room and Copland was in the hallway. Julie was still alive and flown by air ambulance to hospital where she died the following day.

Neighbour Rachel Southon told how she saw Copland bolt the door - and seconds later Julie flopped to the floor.

'As I walked around to close the back passenger door of my car I noticed Julie was inside the house. I had heard bolts go across (the door) and I saw the back of Andrew through the glass,' she said.

'Then he disappeared and I saw Julie banging on the glass. Julie then fell back as if he had hit her with something. At that point I phoned the police as I knew something was not right.'  

She said although she knew 'something horrible' had happened, she did not realise a gun had been fired.

Mother-of-two Mrs Southon had enjoyed cups of tea with Julie before she moved out of the house in Church Hill on November 5 last year and into her new flat in Union Street, Aldershot.

'There were no gunshots that I had heard - I thought he had hit her,' she told the inquest.

The coroner was told that the 1930s pistol, which was issued to Italian forces during the war, was kept in the loft of the end-of-terrace home.

Detective Inspector Darren Rawlings said that he concluded that Julie was shot first.

'My personal view is that Maisie went into the house first, into the dining room. Julie was reluctant to go in,' he said.

'Julie realised something was immediately wrong, I believe. Andrew probably had the firearm on him. I think she was shot first then I think that he went into the dining room (and shot Maisie).'  

The detective added that officers called to the house thought they were attending an 'ordinary domestic incident' and had no idea of the bloodbath inside.

Detective Inspector Rawlings said investigations concluded that Copland found the gun in 1998 while working as a builder in Frimley Green, Surrey.

'We know that he found the 1939 WWII Beretta handgun in a skip, along with some live ammunition, and test-fired it that day. He then decided to retain it and we think he had kept it at his home ever since.

'Unfortunately these guns are fairly common and many were brought back after the war and kept as trophies and souvenirs. We have been working closely with police colleagues in north East Hampshire to hold a fire arm and amnesty at the conclusion of this investigation and this is being launched on Friday.

'We hope that something positive can come from such a shocking and tragic crime and prevent this happening to another family.' 

North East Hampshire Coroner Andrew Bradley ruled that Julie and Maisie were unlawfully killed. He said that Andrew Copland took his own life.

'As awful and as horrible as this is, it is contained to the house. It is a matter of great sadness and I cannot change that for anyone, Mr Bradley said.

'Julie goes to take Maisie to her dad and for reasons best known to him - whether it was because of Lee, whether it was because of suspicion or for whatever reason - it can never be justifiable - but he kills Julie.

'Then something I will never understand and I suspect no-one ever will, he kills his daughter. He then puts the gun to his head and kills himself.' 

He told the relatives: 'I don't know how you move forward but you have my sympathies.'  

Speaking after the hearing Andrew Copland's two other children Craig and Keely Copland said their lives have been 'devastated' by what happened.

'On December 29, 2009, we lost three members of our family; our adored little sister, Maisie, our step-mother and friend, Julie, and our father, Andy.

'Our lives, and those of Reg Harrison (Julie's father) and his family, have been devastated.

'We never could have imagined that our dad could do what he has done; to us, he was an ordinary dad who taught and helped and loved us.

'As well as the grief and anger, there are so many "whys" and "if onlys". Why didn't we see this coming? Why are we still alive while Maisie is dead? If only we could swap with her so she could at least enjoy some of her life.

'If only our dad had never found that gun and kept it hidden all those years.

'If anything good could come out of this, it would be that nobody else should lose loved ones this way.

'Firearms are not souvenirs, keepsakes or ornaments. If you or anyone you know has or finds such a weapon, don't risk losing your family the way we and Reg Harrison have lost ours. We urge you to hand it in so it can be destroyed.

'We can't escape from the nightmare memories of identifying Maisie and our father at the mortuary, or seeing Julie lying helpless at the hospital before she died, but we try to dwell on the happy fun times.'

They described Maisie as a 'beautiful, mischievous little girl who loved her mummy, adored her granddad Reg and loved to scare her big sister with worms and frogs'.

Julie's father Reginald Harrison, who did not attend the inquest, released a statement after the verdict.

He added: 'The coroner's verdict today confirms what we already knew about how Julie and Maisie died and will hopefully now end much of the speculation about what happened.

'Although this is the end of the police's investigation into their deaths, for our family and friends we are still coming to terms with what happened.

'Although they are physically gone from our lives, they are still very much alive in our hearts and memories and it is these thoughts that keeps us going.' 

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