Dirk Raats died on Friday November 22, 2024. This Dutch septuagenarian was accused of the murder of a young British woman, Solaine Thornton, 11 years old, and for having attempted to kill her parents and her little sister, on Saturday June 10, 2023 in their garden in Saint-Herbot, a hamlet of Plonévez-du-Faou (Finistère), Ill, he took his last breath after leaving the prison of Brest a few days before his death.
Céleste Thornton, then aged 9, and her parents, Rachel and Adrian, 49 and 50 years old at the time of the tragedy, will have neither trial nor explanations to help them mourn Solaine, their big sister and daughter. 11 years old. Because unfortunately for the Thornton family, the death of Dirk Raats marks the end of public action.
His partner, a 72-year-old Belgian, should be tried in criminal court. Initially placed under the status of assisted witness, she was finally indicted for failure to assist a person in danger and placed under judicial supervision, as we revealed on July 8.
Neighborhood dispute
Dirk Raats was 73 years old. He was born in Antwerp in Belgium and had Dutch nationality. He had been an educator. Before opening fire with a 22 Long Rifle on the Thornton family, he came to sign papers at the town hall every six months to indicate his presence in France. His partner, 72 years old, is Belgian. “It’s been six to seven years since this couple settled here,” a neighbor told us the day after the tragedy. A disagreement over garden maintenance had started between the Dutchman and the British family three years previously.
The mother, Rachel, then a home helper, was shot twice. Her husband Adrian, in a life-threatening emergency after being shot in the head, was renovating their house. A year and a half after the tragedy, there remains “very diminished and very fragile”, comments a source close to the investigation. Their eldest daughter, Solaine, 11, died instantly, her heart pierced. Her little sister, Céleste, had escaped the shooter by going to take refuge with a neighbor. Contacted, Me Anne Guillerme, Dirk Raats' lawyer, does not wish to make any comments.
