The Coronial Law Lecture Series 2023
University of Bolton
This course prepares participants for work connected to or within the coronial service – it covers theoretical and practical knowledge of how the law is applied, including traning in the process of coronial law and its practical application to individual scenarios. Delivered by experienced practitioners, the
UK Inquest Law Blog
Blog Authors
Latest from UK Inquest Law Blog
Coronial Law Tutoring Opportunities
University of Bolton Centre for Coronial Law are looking to recruit professionals from the coronial system and related fields and/or industries to grow their bank of ‘Variable Hours Tutors’ across all fields relating to the investigation of deaths and Coroners’ inquests including both legal and medical areas.
More information is here and for further information…
An inquest’s scope must not exclude evidence relevant to answering the statutory questions
Leeson v HM Area Coroner for Manchester South (Donald McPherson & nine other interested parties) [2023] EWHC 62 (Admin). 18 January 2023 (judgment here)
It is a very unusual coronial judicial review that has ten interested parties. Here nine of the ten were insurance companies with whom the bereaved widower, Mr McPherson, had taken…
Shoreham Aircrash Inquests conclude
The inquests into the deaths of the eleven bystanders and road users who were killed in the Shoreham Airshow Aircrash in 2015 have now concluded.
These inquests were resumed in 2019 following the pilot’s acquittal of criminal charges of gross negligence manslaughter. Bridget Dolan KC was then appointed as Counsel to the Inquests and has…
PFD reports & PFD evidence: Discretion and Subjectivity
Dillon v Assistant Coroner For Rutland & N Leicestershire [2022] EWHC 3186 KB (Admin) 14 Dec 2022, judgment here
Challenging a Coroner’s refusal to issue a report to prevent future deaths (‘a PFD report’)[1] is always going to be an uphill struggle. Whilst there is there is no coronial discretion, and a report is…
Sandilands, Shoreham and Sala: AIBs and the Coronial Investigation
It is now six years since Singh J and the Lord Chief Justice considered the relationship between Accident Investigation Branch investigations (Rail, Air & Marine) and coroners’ inquests in ‘the Norfolk case’.[1] In that instance the issue was whether a coroner had the power to order the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (“AAIB”) to disclose…
Keeping it simple: Article 2 inquests are a relatively summary process
R (Morahan) v HM Coroner for West London and others [2022] EWCA Civ 1410 (here)
After a flood of Article 2 decisions in the past few years many will be relieved to learn that the Court of Appeal have firmly rejected the challenge in Morahan (so there is no new law to…
Coroner’s inquest causes a diplomatic incident!
By Emma Nourry
R v Kadir [2022] EWCA Crim 1244, 21 September 2022. (judgment here)
Not a true headline – but one we might well see if the coronial world remains as ignorant as this blogger was until yesterday of the requirement to seek approval from a foreign state before hearing any live oral evidence from abroad.…
No costs awarded against a neutral coroner where new evidence had been obtained by the Attorney General
By Emma Nourry
Davison v HM Senior Coroner for Hertfordshire [2022] EWHC 2343 (Admin) 15 September 2022 (judgment here)
Megan Davison (‘Megan’) suffered with ‘diabulimia’, a media-coined term that refers to an eating disorder in a person with type 1 diabetes, where the person purposefully restricts insulin in order to lose weight. When Megan sadly took her own…
Medical cases and ever-expanding Art 2 obligations
Devall & Corcoran v Ministry of Justice [2022] EWHC 1608 (QB). 23 June 2022 (judgment here)
An appeal from a refusal to strike out a civil claim might not look immediately relevant for coronial law, but Mr Justice Soole’s detailed analysis of whether there is at least an arguable Art 2 operational duty to…