Inquest basics: Interested Persons by Charlotte Davies

In the second of a series of articles delving into the world of inquests, Charlotte Davies (2007) examines the role played by those who may be able to assist the Coroner in their investigation into a death.

An Interested Person (or “IP” for short) is a person or corporate body that has the right to participate in inquest proceedings in order to assist the Coroner and adduce the best evidence regarding the four questions the Coroner must answer, referred to in the first article in this series: Who? When? Where? And, How? They are so called because they can be said to have an ‘interest’ in the outcome. They could be an Interested Person because of their relationship to the deceased, or due their involvement in the circumstances of the death. The use of the term “person” might be somewhat misleading; an Interested Person can be a local authority (for example, in an inquest into the death of a young person in care); the local police force (for example, in inquests involving a death in police custody, or where the deceased had interaction with the police in the days leading up to their death); or a company (where a death occurred at work).

As clarified in my previous article (What is an Inquest?), the Interested Persons are not “parties” or “opponents”, inquests are not adversarial and there are no winners or losers.

An ‘Interested Person’ is defined in section 47(2) of the Coroners & Justice Act 2009 and includes a long list of classes of people and organisations who may be deemed to be an Interest Person. Interested persons can include:

·????????family members (more than one family member can be separately identified as an Interested Person);

·????????a personal representative of the deceased’s estate (i.e. the Executor of their Will);

·????????a beneficiary under a policy of life insurance;

·????????a person who may have caused or contributed to the death of the deceased;

·????????a company;

·????????a local authority;

·????????a police force;

·????????an NHS Trust;

·????????any other person or organisation that the Senior Coroner thinks has a sufficient interest.

At an inquest into the death of a young person in care, who had involvement with child and adolescent mental health services, the Interested Persons could, for example, be a member of the family of the deceased; the Local Authority (due to the young person being subject to a Care Order); the police force for the area in which the death occurred (who were perhaps involved in the search after the young person was reported missing); and the NHS Trust of the area in which the death occurred (due to the involvement of CAMHS).

It is the duty of the Coroner to review the facts of each death and to identify those who should be Interested Persons. That being the case, if an individual or organisation believes they should be an Interested Persons, they can contact the Coroner and set out their position.

The rights of Interested Persons (directly or via their legal representative, if instructed) include:

·????????to be notified of the date, time and place of the inquest hearing within seven days of the date being set;

·????????to be notified of the details of the post mortem examination and toxicology reports;

·????????to be notified of the date, time and place of and to attend any Pre-Inquest Review Hearing (these will be the subject of a later article) and make submissions;

·????????to receive relevant disclosure of documentation held by the Coroner;

·????????to see written evidence and to object to it being adduced (if appropriate) at a hearing;

·????????to ask questions of the witnesses at the inquest hearing;

·????????to make closing submissions on the law and available conclusions open to the Coroner, at the end of the evidence at the inquest hearing.

?Charlotte has appeared in numerous multi-day inquests representing all types of interested parties, including Article 2 and jury inquests. She has appeared in a number of inquests reported in the national press, including those involving Leading Counsel. She has particular experience at inquests involving young people taking their own lives.

If you wish to discuss anything in this article or you want to instruct Charlotte you can contact her clerk on [email protected].