I hoped there might be a gas leak or some other innocent (yet still tragic) explanation for this, but re-reading the article shared above, that seems unlikely since police were actually called to the residence at 1 AM.
As a result, I fear that the only question in my mind right now is which adult murdered the other and their child. Sounds like the headmaster position at this school was residential, which a spouse might’ve resented, not to mention that I worry that some of the residential students might've been exposed to this event (sounds of arguing, cries of distress, etc.).
To offer support for my suggestion that the residential job may have been stressful/not to the liking of everyone in the family, a snip from an article in The Sun (UK tabloid newspaper) with one (IMO) particularly telling phrase bolded by me:
“Emma was appointed the school’s first-ever female head in September last year.
She revealed to pupils in December that the family had bought a labrador, named Bella, to live with them within the school grounds.
She said: “In terms of transition it’s been a really big change for my family. We’ve moved house – we’ve bought a dog.
“I’ve got a new job,
my husband has got a new job, that wasn’t meant to happen but it did and my daughter has started a new school so there’s been a lot of change for us as a family.”
THE haunting final posts of a headmistress found dead at a school along with her husband and daughter have been revealed. Cops found the bodies of Emma Pattison, 45, her daughter Lettie, seven, and…
www.the-sun.com
Just IMO, because I’ve not read anything that suggests Emma was struggling to fulfill her professional duties, but it also couldn’t’ve been easy to be under pressure as the first female head of this esteemed school, especially knowing that, if you were ever let go, your family would be forced to uproot their lives as a result.
I find it interesting that there’s been little information reported about her husband besides his name and age. I am NOT suggesting anyone sleuth him (which would violate TOS) but I wonder, what was his job, and was it as prestigious, as high-pressure, or as public-facing as hers?