2005

Cases Reported

R (Kasperowicz) v HM Coroner for Plymouth	1
Issue: Whether a post-mortem examination had to be ordered where the cause of death was not certified by a medical practitioner. Whether a post-mortem examination needed to be an invasive procedure in every case.

Police Service of Northern Ireland v McCaughey and Grew	3
Issue: Whether the police were obliged to disclose documents to the coroner under s8 Coroners Act (Northern Ireland) 1959. Whether the Human Rights Act 1998 had retrospective effect.

Rowley v UK (Admissibility Decision)	12
Issue: Whether an individual could claim to be a victim of a violation of the ECHR when the national authorities had acknowledged the breach of the Convention and afforded redress. Whether there was a right under Art 2 to have recourse to the criminal law. Whether the investigation of the applicant’s son’s death was adequate.

R (Pearson) v HM Coroner for Inner London North	18
Issue: Whether, where a coroner was conducting an inquest into a death that occurred before the coming into force of the Human Rights Act 1998 on 2 October 2000, the inquiry into how the deceased came by her death should be limited by reference to the Jamieson test or a wider inquiry compliant with Art 2 ECHR to encompass in what broad circumstances the deceased came by her death

Bubbins v UK	24
Issue: Whether the planning and organisation of a police operation leading to the shooting of the deceased constituted a violation of Art 2; whether the effectiveness of the inquest was undermined by reason of incomplete disclosure, the granting of anonymity to police officers, and the direction to the jury by the coroner to return a verdict of lawful killing; whether, if the court found that there was no violation of Art 2, there was nonetheless an arguable claim for the purpose of Art 13; whether the absence of a remedy for a non-dependent relative within the meaning of the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 was a violation of Art 13.

Parkin v HM Coroner for North Lincolnshire and Grimsby District	44
Issue: Whether under s13(1)(b) of the Coroners Act 1988 it was necessary or desirable in the interests of justice that another inquest should be held where evidence that was possibly relevant to the deceased’s state of mind and to a verdict of suicide had not been heard.

R (Ministry of Defence) v HM Coroner For Wiltshire & Swindon & (1) Craik (2) Chief Constable of Wiltshire Constabulary (3) Adrian (4) Muir (5) The Porton Down Veterans' Support Group (Interested Parties)	48
Issue: Whether permission should be given to apply for judicial review of the coroner’s decision that the evidence justified unlawful act manslaughter being left to the jury; whether tapes of the inquest proceedings should be disclosed to allow consideration to be given to pursuing an allegation of bias; whether a protective costs order should be granted in favour of the coroner in respect of the forthcoming judicial review hearing.

R (D) v Secretary of State for the Home Department.	54
Issue: Whether an investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman into an incident of self-harm in prison could satisfy the state’s investigative obligations under Arts 2 and 3 ECHR.

R v Kelly and Frear	66
Issue: Whether convictions for gross negligence manslaughter and breach of duty under Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 were safe in the absence of evidence about the condition of the scene at the time of the incident; whether the judge’s summing up was adequate.

R (Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust) v HM Coroner for West Yorkshire	74
Issue: Whether a clinical decision not to undertake an emergency operation was an error that could be regarded as sufficiently gross to constitute neglect.

R (Sharman) v HM Coroner for Inner North London; and (1) Irene Stanley (2) Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and (3) Independent Police Complaints Commission (interested parties)	77
Issue: Whether, where there was evidence on which the jury could reject the account given by police officers who had shot the deceased, there was sufficient evidence for a verdict of unlawful killing.

R (Mowlem PLC) v HM Assistant Deputy Coroner for the District of Avon; and Jennifer Cox (interested party)	87
Issue: Whether, where words describing how the deceased had come by his death had unlawfully been included in the inquisition, the court had power to substitute alternative words; the test to be applied in exercising such power; whether comments made by the coroner after delivery of the jury’s verdict were unlawful and should be quashed.

Plymouth City Council v HM Coroner for the County of Devon	93
Issue: Whether Art 2 ECHR required a coroner to conduct a broad investigation into the role of protective agencies following the death of a child who was under an interim supervision order and who remained in his mother’s care at his death; the nature of the state’s duty to protect the right to life of a child living with a parent in the community.

R (Clayton) v HM Coroner for South Yorkshire (East District); and (1) Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police (2) PC Cross and three others (interested parties)	110
Issue: Whether the jury had been put under improper pressure to reach a verdict; whether the conflation by the coroner of a majority direction with a direction as to breaking deadlock put the jury under improper pressure.

Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Christine Hurst and (1) London Borough of Barnet, (2) HM Coroner Northern District of London (interested parties)	115
Issue: Whether, where the death in question occurred prior to the Human Rights Act 1998 coming into force, a coroner was obliged by s3 HRA and Art 2 ECHR to resume an adjourned inquest under s16(3) Coroners Act 1988.

Vo v France	128
Issue: Whether the absence of a criminal remedy to punish the unintentional destruction of a foetus constituted a failure on the part of the state to protect by law the right to life within the meaning of Art 2 ECHR.

Trubnikov v Russia	157
Issue: Whether in a case of suicide in prison there had been a breach of the positive obligation to protect life under Art 2 ECHR; whether there had been a breach of the Art 2 obligation to conduct an effective investigation into the death.

R (Sharman) v Inner North London Coroner and Irene Stanley (Appellant)	168
Issue: Whether permission would be granted to appeal the quashing of a jury’s verdict of unlawful killing.

HM Coroner North Wales District v Hartley	174
Issue: Whether the coroner’s application for a new inquest following the discovery of the deceased’s body should be granted under s13 Coroners Act 1988.

Goodson v (1) HM Coroner for Bedfordshire and Luton and (2) Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Trust.	175
Issue: Whether a protective costs order should be made in favour of the applicant in an appeal against a coroner’s decision that the procedural obligation under Art 2 was not engaged following a death arising from a medical accident.

R (Canning) v HM Coroner for Northamptonshire	181
Issue: Whether, where a disabled child had died from an undiagnosed bowel condition having been in the care of a publicly run respite centre, there was reasonable cause to suspect that the deceased had died an unnatural death so that an inquest was required to be held.

R (Takoushis) v (1) HM Coroner for Inner North London (2) Guys & St Thomas’ Hospital Trust (3) The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.	185
Issue: Whether the refusals to summon a jury and to hear expert evidence in respect of a hospital system were justified on the assumption that Art 2 ECHR was not engaged; whether Art 2 was engaged.

R (Al Skeini and Others) v Secretary of State for Defence (Redress Trust intervening)	205
Issue: Whether the deaths of six citizens in Iraq involving British forces occurred within the jurisdiction of the UK so as to fall within the scope of the ECHR and the Human Rights Act 1998; if so, whether there had been an adequate inquiry into those deaths for the purposes of Arts 2 and 3.