Book review: The Inquest Book

Written by: Bridget Dolan KC
Published: 11 July 2016

The Inquest Book: The Law of Coroners and Inquests

C Cross and N Garnham (Eds) (2016) Hart Publishing Ltd £150
ISBN: 978-1-84946- 649-3 Hardback

How often when needing to quickly advise a client, draft a pithy skeleton argument or get on your feet fast to make submissions on a point of law have you thought to yourself “I know there is a really important case about that but I just can’t remember what it is”, then, even more annoyingly, after eventually dredging the case name from the dark recesses of memory, had to wade through paragraphs and paragraphs of the judgment just to find that really key part? Well if you are an inquest practitioner you can now breathe a sigh of relief, a helpful team of barristers from 1 Crown Office Row have just saved you hours of head scratching by producing ‘The Inquest Book’ and doing most of the hard work for you.

Cheryl James Inquest – Deepcut Barracks – factual findings and a conclusion of ‘suicide’ handed down

Written by: UK Inquest Law Blog
Published: 27 June 2016

Bridget Dolan QC and Jamie Mathieson were counsel to the inquest into the death of Private Cheryl James in 1995 at Deepcut Barracks which ended on 3 June 2016. The judge’s 100 page findings of fact, addressing the circumstances of the death and the culture and procedures at the camp, can be found here.

John Beggs QC and Cecily White acted for Surrey Police. Paul Spencer of Serjeants’ Inn Chambers also represented a medical witness at the hearings.

Possible causation and Art 2 conclusions: Was Lewis possibly wrong?

Written by: Briony Ballard
Published: 17 June 2016

R (Tainton) v Senior Coroner for Preston and West Lancashire [2016] EWHC 1396 (Admin)

The Court of Appeal in Lewis[1] made it clear that there is a power, but not a duty, to leave to an inquest jury findings regarding non-causative shortcomings which only may have led to or hastened death. A coroner has discretion to leave to the jury causes of death that are merely possible and not probable.

However the Divisional Court have now taken an interesting side-step around Lewis by deciding that, in an Art 2 inquest where a shortcoming has been admitted then, even if it is only possibly causative of the death, the jury should be directed to record it.

“Where the possibility of a violation of the deceased’s right to life cannot be wholly excluded, section 5(1)(b) and 5(2) of the 2009 Act should require the inclusion in the Record of Inquest of any admitted failings forming part of the circumstances in which the deceased came by his death, which are given in evidence before the coroner, even if, on the balance of probabilities, the jury cannot properly find them causative of the death.” [74]

Coroners Inquests and Reporting Restrictions

Written by: Bridget Dolan KC
Published: 29 April 2016

V v Associated Newspapers Ltd and others [2016] EWCOP 21

In November 2015 the Court of Protection determined that an adult woman had the mental capacity to decide whether or not to refuse the life preserving medical treatment offered to her. She exercised her right to autonomy, refused treatment and died.

Such capacity decisions are made on a regular basis in the Court of Protection (CoP) – however this particular decision in relation to ‘Ms C’[1] has attracted perhaps more widespread media attention than any other Court of Protection case before it. That reporting has been characterised by the Vice President, Charles J, as:

“reporting that engaged the prurient interest of the public in the personal details of the lives of others, rather than the public interest in important issues relating to [the court’s finding of capacity to decide and its consequences].”

The back-story of Ms C’s life and her personality is clearly of the type that sells newspapers. Ms C is now know to many as the “sparkling socialite” and pixelated pictures of her have appeared in both the broadsheet and tabloid press with epithets such as “man-eater” and “obsessed with sex” in the accompanying headlines.

Reporting restrictions were, unremarkably, made at the time of the original CoP case. However, what makes this case unusual is the family’s subsequent application for the press injunction to be continued after Ms C’s death and to cover press reporting from her inquest.

No PFD – what about a Paragraph 37 Letter?

Written by: Frances McClenaghan
Published: 6 April 2016

Inquests often reveal matters that are of concern but which are unlikely to give rise to a risk of future deaths and so fall outside the reg. 28 “Report on Action to Prevent Future Deaths” provisions (the ‘PFD report’). Yet it is often overlooked that where the duty to make a PFD report does not arise, the coroner still has another tool in their public health kit and may nevertheless draw attention to a matter of concern arising during the investigation by writing a letter expressing that concern to the relevant person or organisation who can act upon it.

Known as a ‘Paragraph 37 Letter’ such a step is proposed and approved by the Chief Coroner at paragraph 37 of his Guidance No. 5 (Reports to Prevent Future Deaths); yet it is only rarely used.