Solicitor accidentally gave seven-year-old girl's address to father who later shot her dead, review concludes

Mary Shipstone's mother says she was murdered out of 'revenge' by her father after they escaped the abusive relationship

Mary Shipstone was killed when her father shot her at the safehouse where she was staying with her mother in 2014 (PA)

A young girl was shot dead by her father after a solicitor accidentally gave him the address of the safe house where she and her mother were staying, a serious case review has said.

Mary Shipstone, aged seven, was shot in the head by Yasser Alromisse after she returned to the safe house in Northiam, East Sussex, with her mother in 2014 and later died in hospital.

Alromisse then turned the gun on himself.

Mary's mother told police how her solicitor had inadvertently given Alromisse the address when he was sent legal papers.

The serious case review, which concluded in March but can only now be reported, also revealed there was evidence that the details of her previous addresses were given to Alromisse by other organisations, including a bank and the Child Support Agency.

But the review concluded that no-one could have reasonably predicted or prevented Mary’s death.

It said it could not definitely determine where Alromisse got the address from.

A spokesman for the East Sussex Local Safeguarding Children board (LSCB) told the BBC: "The father planned and carried out the killing in a secretive way, using the internet and a range of covert methods to trace the family and obtain the means to carry out the murder.

"There is no evidence that any professional involved with the family prior to these tragic events was aware of this activity.

"Based on the review, the LSCB concludes that no professional could have prevented him doing what he did."

He said the LSCB found professionals had responded appropriately towards the reports of domestic violence but also found areas for improvement.

The report concluded the attack was "calculated to deprive the mother of her child while at the same time leaving her with a permanent memory of her death".

At an inquest into Mary’s death in September last year, Coroner Alan Craze concluded that Mary had been unlawfully killed.

He said it was not clear how Alromisse found the address but described the murder as “thoroughly despicable act of violence” that was “not in any way spontaneous”.

Her mother, Lyndsey Shipstone, said Alromisse killed her daughter “out of revenge” after she left him because he was violent towards her.

She told the inquest: “I was the one he hated the most. Why did he kill Mary? I don’t think I will ever really know that. He wanted to kill himself and, for some reason, he thought she shouldn’t live without him.

“It was an act of revenge really. It has got to be. If he really loved her, he never would have murdered her.”

Additional reporting by PA