Author: Bridget Dolan QC

Parkin v HM Asst Coroner Inner London (East), and London Borough of Havering and North East London NHS Foundation Trust (interested parties) [2024] EWHC 744 (Admin) (judgment here) (28 March 2024). In the context of Article 2, the State’s obligation to take appropriate steps to safeguard the lives of citizens is a constantly evolving jurisprudence. […]

Read More… from No Art 2 duty owed when a person with capacity exposes themselves to danger

A 2021 study from the University of Surrey School of Law looking at gender and seniority of counsel before the UK’s highest court[1] (here) has shown that women are under-represented as leading advocates, especially in major civil and Business and Property Courts litigation before the Supreme Court.   Whilst there are some reassuring findings within the […]

Read More… from Advocacy opportunities for junior counsel: Cross-jurisdictional guidance that Coroners should note

Henry Gargan’s and Edward Butler’s Application [2023] NIKB 103 (here) Although often overshadowed by the Bloody Sunday killings a few weeks earlier, the Springhill killings of 9 July 1972 still stand out as one of the most notorious events during the troubles. The five people shot dead in Belfast that day included three teenagers and a Catholic priest, who was said to have been waving […]

Read More… from Mere bystanders? Obtaining the criminal records of lay inquest witnesses

R (Bryan) v HM Assistant Coroner for Buckinghamshire [2024] EWHC (Admin) 26 12 January 2024 (judgment here) This most tragic of cases concerned the loss of two precious and irreplaceable lives when Ms Redmond put herself in the path of a train whilst holding her three year old daughter. The inevitable conclusion of suicide in […]

Read More… from Are presumptions and burdens of proof relevant in inquests? Insanity and unlawful killing considered

Death and taxes: the past, present and future of the coronial service  A lecture by the Chief Coroner of England and Wales, HHJ Thomas Teague KC, celebrating 10 years post-reform The Chief Coroner’s speech on the tenth anniversary of the implementation of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009, delivered on 22 November 2023 and available […]

Read More… from Keeping the deceased at the heart of the inquest