Headteacher’s tribute to ‘bright and bubbly’ girl, 6, found dead alongside her father

The of Toronto Primary School in has paid a heartfelt tribute to six year old pupil Hope Gordon, who was found dead in a house alongside her 36-year-old Mark on Monday. Fiona Linfoot described Hope as a “bright, bubbly” girl who “brought joy to everyone she met” and said she would be deeply missed by her friends and the staff.

The have confirmed that they have found no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved in the deaths, which are currently being treated as unexplained. examinations are due to take place this week.

Ms Linfoot said: “Hope was a much-loved member of the Toronto Primary family, and will be hugely missed by all her friends and school staff. She was a bright, bubbly and affectionate girl who brought joy to everyone she met. We will really miss her infectious smile and kind heart. We would ask everyone to respect the privacy of her family and the school community at this difficult time. Help and support is available to any of our pupils, or staff, affected by this tragic news.”

Chief Superintendent Gregg Banks said concerns were raised when Hope failed to attend school on Monday, prompting a “concern for” call to Police Scotland. 

Mr Banks said: “This led our officers to conduct inquiries to identify the child’s whereabouts, and ultimately resulted in them attending at the property at Harburn Drive in West Calder. When they were unable to gain entry to the property, assistance was provided from colleagues at the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to force entry, and tragically the bodies of an adult male aged 36, and a young female six years of age, were discovered in the property.”

Mr Banks said there had been an “element of shared custody” over the child between her mother and father, and that she had been staying with her father for a “period of time” when their bodies were found.

Detective Chief Inspector Bob Williamson, of the major investigation team, said: “Our thoughts remain with the man and girl’s relatives at this extremely difficult time and they continue to be supported by specialist officers. They are understandably devastated and it is vital we get answers for them. At this time we have no information to suggest anyone else is involved and our inquiries are continuing.”

Mr Banks added the investigation is still at a “relatively early stage”, and he called on people to avoid “speculation” about what happened at the property.

“The post-mortems have not been conducted yet. I genuinely hope folk won’t throw wild speculation out there. That really does not support the family who are devastated at this time. Let’s work on the facts and we will know the post-mortem facts very quickly.”

Mr Banks also appealed for privacy for the family. “As you can probably imagine, anyone losing a family member in such circumstances is a really tragic and difficult thing to deal with, particularly losing a child. The death of a six year old child is particularly tragic, so the family are being supported. But clearly my appeal has been for privacy at this time.”

He also thanked local residents for their help over the last 48 hours, and said he wanted to “reassure” them that the events appear to be “an incident within the context of that one property”, and that there was no risk to the wider community.

Chief Inspector Elaine McArthur-Kerr, local area commander, echoed this, saying: “We understand the significant impact this will have on the local community and I would like to thank everyone for their help so far. This incident is very upsetting and worrying for the people living in this community and we would ask anyone with any concerns to speak to us. A police presence will remain in the area while we carry out investigations and anyone with any concerns, or information, can approach these officers.”

Police have appealed to anybody with any information that about the incident to contact them.