Coroner service - urgent reform needed?
An iPM listener emailed to say her family's been waiting almost two years for an inquest after their daughter died in a car accident in August 2006.
So, we've decided to take a closer look at inquests and the coroner system.
According to the Coroner's Act 1988, when someone dies 'a violent or unnatural death' or 'a sudden death of which the cause is unknown', the death has to be reported to the coroner and there has to be an inquest to identify the person and to answer the questions 'how, when and where' the person died and if there are to be no criminal proceedings. ()
There are around 20,000 inquests in the UK each year, about 2,000 of which require a jury.
Currently, there is no national coroner service, the coroner and their courts are all managed locally.
There is no time period within which an inquest must take place. And there is no
formal complaint system.
A draft Coroner Reform Bill was proposed in 2006, but hasn't yet made it through Parliament as it's been delayed twice.
You can .
Have you had any dealings with the coroner service? Have you attended the inquest of a loved one? Who would you like to hear from on this? All comments welcome.
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