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Rayner my parade! The importance of specialist advice.
Jemma Brimblecombe
The husband and children of the school teacher, Ann Maguire, who was murdered by a pupil, William Cornick, in her classroom in April 2014 have been unsuccessful in their attempt to appeal against the decision of the High Court to dismiss their claim for judicial review of a decision of the Assistant District Coroner for West Yorkshire.
The Court of Appeal ( [2018] EWCA Civ 6) has confirmed , in the words of our previous blog on this case, that the Coroner’s decision is (almost always) final. As we explained in our blog, the family of Mrs Maguire had to show that it was Wednesbury unreasonable of the Assistant District Coroner not to call the pupils who had known William Cornick to give live evidence at the inquest into Mrs Maguire’s death. The Assistant District Coroner had made this decision because, in his view, the potential harm to the pupils outweighed the potential benefit to the inquest of hearing their evidence live. Mr Justice Holroyde, who heard the claim for judicial review, disagreed with the family and found in his judgement that “it was impossible to say that [the Assistant Deputy Coroner’s] conclusion was not one which was properly open to him”. The family accepted that this was the correct test to be applied but appealed on five grounds, at the heart of which was “the proposition that having decided that the questioning of pupils regarding the school’s policies and rules on weapons and reporting on fellow pupils would be within the scope of the inquest, it was irrational not to question further and call the interviewed pupils, at least without a full individual inquiry into the circumstances of each, including potential harm”.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal. In his Judgment, dated 17 January 2018, Lord Burnett of Maldon CJ not only confirmed the decision of the coroner and the judgment of Mr Justice Holroyde, but also restated what had already been said in blunt terms. He stated that there was very little, if any, potential benefit in calling the pupils to give evidence. Since it was clear that there had been no relevant written rules or policies in place at the school, the evidence that the pupils might be able to give would be limited to simply exploring “the individual child’s thinking in connection with the decisions he or she made that morning when confronted with knowledge of what William Cornick was saying and doing”. This would not provide assistance with the general question of what rules and policies the school had, or should have had, in relation to the possession of weapons and whistleblowing. Mr Justice Holroyde went on to consider “whether the coroner had information available to him which was capable of supporting his conclusion that to call the interviewed pupils risked causing them harm”. This was also dealt with by the Court of Appeal quite swiftly. There was a very clear risk that harm could be caused to the pupils by forcing them to relive and answer questions about what they had done and not done in the days and hours before Mrs Maguire’s death. It had therefore been open to the Assistant District Coroner to decide not to call them and Mr Justice Holroyde had been right to uphold this. This was especially so given that there was “very little, if anything, to place in the balance against the potential harm to the interviewed pupils of giving evidence”.
This appeal provided a useful opportunity for the courts to succinctly rehearse the legal framework governing the scope of an inquest and the available grounds of public law challenges regarding coroners’ decisions. Unfortunately for the family of Mrs Maguire, the decision of the coroner has once again proven to be final.
This article was first published by New Law Journal on 4th August.
Inquest proceedings, like other legal proceedings in the UK, have been significantly affected by social distancing restrictions and advice arising from the COVID-19 crisis. This blog looks briefly at the impact of the Coronavirus Act 2020 on proceedings, and examines the Chief Coroner’s guidance notes to coroners working during the crisis.
Inquests are always very sad affairs, and when the court is considering a suicide, it is particularly difficult for the loved ones of the person who has died.
At the end of the inquest in 2014 into the death of Ella Kissi-Debrah, the coroner concluded that this nine year old girl suffered an asthma attack, followed by a seizure, and died after unsuccessful resuscitation. This is one possible answer to the question of how Ella died. However, there is clearly a bigger question which needs to be answered.
As we discussed in our recent blog, some inquests will automatically be designated ‘Article 2 inquests’ if the deceased died whilst under the control of the state. Other inquests will only become Article 2 inquests if there is evidence of systemic failures of processes and systems to protect life. Therefore a case of ordinary medical negligence would not trigger Article 2, as confirmed in Parkinson [2018] 4 W.L.R 106.
In June 2018 the government announced that some bereaved families should find it easier to access legal aid funding for representation at inquests. The updated guidance issued by the Lord Chancellor allows caseworkers to waive the financial means test “for cases where the state has a procedural obligation to hold an inquest under Article 2”.
In February 2019 in its Final Report on the Review of Legal Aid for Inquests, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that it would not be introducing automatic public funding for families at inquests where the state is legally represented. This is hugely disappointing news for families, such as the family of PC Palmer, who have experienced the reality of an inquest where the state has the benefit of a highly experienced and well-resourced legal team while they are left to try and find lawyers prepared to represent them for free.
The husband and children of the school teacher, Ann Maguire, who was murdered by a pupil, William Cornick, in her classroom in April 2014 have been unsuccessful in their attempt to appeal against the decision of the High Court to dismiss their claim for judicial review of a decision of the Assistant District Coroner for West Yorkshire.
Today, the Health Secretary announced “a new maternity strategy to reduce the number of stillbirths. This strategy centres on the investigation of still birth deaths by the new Healthcare Safety Investigations Branch but it also included a planned change in the law to allow coroners to investigate full term still birth deaths. Currently there is no requirement for a doctor to refer a still birth death to the local coroner.
In the recently reported case of R (Silvera) v HM Senior Coroner for Oxfordshire [2017] EWHC 2499 (Admin), the Divisional Court looked at the investigative duties placed on the state by Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the importance of the coronial process in ensuring that those duties have been met.
The recent decision of Mr Justice Holroyde in R oao Donald Maguire and ors v The Assistant Coroner for West Yorkshire (Eastern Area) [2017] EWHC 2039 provides a salutary reminder of just how difficult it is successfully to judicially review the ‘case management’ decisions of a coroner – in this case a decision as to which witnesses to call at an inquest – and of the costs risks of bringing such a challenge.
We welcome views and opinions about the issues raised in this blog. Should you require specific advice in relation to personal circumstances, please use the form on the contact page.
Jemma Brimblecombe
Charles Richardson
Oliver Oldman
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