2006

Cases Reported

R (Scholes) v Secretary of State for the Home Department	1
Issue: Whether, where an inquest had been conducted in a way that sought to satisfy Art 2 ECHR within the confines of the inquest process, that invariably discharged the state’s Art 2 investigative obligations; whether the Secretary of State acted lawfully in refusing to direct a public inquiry into juvenile sentencing policy following the suicide of a vulnerable youth in a young offenders institute.

R (Bennett) v HM Coroner for Inner South London; Officers A and B (First and Second Interested Parties) and Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (Third Interested Party)	21
Issue: Whether the requirement in Art 2 ECHR that state agents should use no more force than absolutely necessary differed materially from the English common law test of using such force as was reasonable in self-defence or in defence of another; whether the coroner had erred in refusing to leave a verdict of unlawful killing to the jury.

Ministry of Defence v HM Coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon, (1) Lilias Craik (2) Chief Constable of the Wiltshire Constabulary (3) Lucy Adrian (4) John Muir (5) Porton Down Veterans Support Group (Interested Parties)	32
Issue: Whether the court could and should amend a jury’s verdict of unlawful killing on the basis of a proposal put forward following an agreement reached between the claimant and the deceased’s family.

R (D) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; INQUEST intervening.	35
Issue: Whether parties to an Art 2 inquiry had to be able to cross-examine witnesses in order to satisfy the state’s investigative obligations.

R v Bowman	45
Issue: Whether, in the light of forensic pathology evidence not heard at trial, a conviction for murder was unsafe; guidance on the preparation of expert reports.

Van Colle v Chief Constable of the Hertfordshire Police	68
Issue: Whether there had been breaches of Arts 2 and 8 ECHR where a prosecution witness, who had reported instances of intimidation to the police and had not been given any protection, was murdered

R (Coker) v HM Coroner for Inner South London and (1) Independent Police Complaints Commission and (2) Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis (interested parties)	98
Issue: Whether, where an inquest was to be heard with a jury, a coroner was entitled to hold a pre-inquest hearing at which he would make public the pathologist’s conclusions as to the medical cause of death.

R (Sutovic) v HM Coroner for Northern District of Greater London	104
Issue: Whether irregularities in the application of r37 were such that the coroner’s inquiry had been insufficient. Whether, where new evidence had emerged since the inquest, a fresh inquest should be ordered under s13 Coroners Act 1988.

R (Pekkelo) v HM Coroner for Central & South East Kent	119
Issue: Whether the coroner had erred in law in his direction to the jury on neglect; whether there had been a breach of the investigative obligation under Art 2 ECHR in not obtaining from the jury either a narrative verdict or answers to detailed factual questions.

Byrzykowski v Poland	125
Issue: Whether there had been a procedural violation of Art 2 where criminal, civil and disciplinary proceedings in respect of a death had been pending for up to seven years; whether the rule of exhaustion of domestic remedies had been observed.

Panullo and Forte v France	136
Issue: Whether a delay in returning a deceased child’s body to her parents constituted a breach of Art 8 ECHR.

University Hospital Lewisham NHS Trust v Hamuth and others	141
Issue: Whether the claimant was a person in lawful possession of a dead body and as such could make arrangements for its disposal notwithstanding the objection and claim of the executor.

R (Brown and another) v HM Coroner for County Borough of Neath & Port Talbot	143
Issue: Whether the coroner had been correct to leave to the jury a verdict of unlawful killing, based on gross negligence manslaughter, where the risk of death had been very small.

R (Canning) v HM Coroner for Northamptonshire	155
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) Lin v Secretary of State for Transport	161
Issue: Whether Art 2 ECHR required that a public inquiry be ordered into a fatal train crash where an inquest had not yet been held

R (Mullane) v West Berkshire Safer Communities Partnership and others	170
Issue: Whether the failure by a claimant to apply for judicial review of either a coroners decision not to hold an enhanced inquest into the death of his sister and nephew, or the verdict of the inquest itself, was fatal to an application for judicial review of a subsequent decision to hold a domestic homicide review.

Howlett v HM Coroner for County of Devon; (1) Mr Holcroft and (2) Mrs Holcroft (Interested Parties)	176
Issue: Whether a fresh inquest should be ordered under s13 Coroners Act 1988 where the coroner had returned an open verdict despite no post-mortem having been conducted and where new evidence relevant to the cause of death had been obtained; whether the coroner had erred in not disclosing in advance those statements to be read under r37 of the Coroners Rules 1984

R (Scholes) v Secretary of State for the Home Department	180
Issue: Whether, where an inquest had been conducted in a way that sought to satisfy Art 2 ECHR within the confines of the inquest process, that invariably discharged the state’s Art 2 investigative obligations; whether the Secretary of State acted lawfully in refusing to direct a public inquiry into juvenile sentencing policy following the suicide of a vulnerable youth in a young offenders’ institution.

R (Sparrow) v HM Coroner for East Somerset (1) Jennifer Chubb (2) Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Constabulary (interested parties)	194
Issue: Whether an inquest should be quashed under s13 of the Coroners Act 1988 where new evidence had been discovered relevant to the cause of death.

R (JL) v Secretary of State for the Home Department	200
Issue: Whether the circumstances of a failed suicide attempt by a detainee in a Young Offender’s Institution were such that the state was obliged to conduct an enquiry satisfying the minimum standards required by Art 2.

In the matter of Officer L and others	211
Issue: Whether an inquiry panel erred in law in refusing to grant anonymity to retired RUC officers called as witnesses.

R (Mongan) v (1) Coroner for Londonderry (2) Northern Ireland Prison Service (3) Police Service of Northern Ireland and (4) Public Prosecution Service.	219
Issue: Whether the investigation of a suicide in prison had been insufficiently prompt and insufficiently accessible and had therefore breached Art 2 ECHR; whether promptness was a necessary requirement of an effective investigation.

R (Da Silva) v DPP and Independent Police Complaints Commission	224
Issue: Whether a decision not to prosecute a police officer for the shooting of a member of the public should be quashed, and whether there should be disclosure of the underlying evidence.

Savage v South Essex Partnership NHS Trust	235
Issue: Whether gross negligence of a kind sufficient to sustain a charge of manslaughter was the correct threshold to establish a breach of Art 2 ECHR in respect of the death of a detained patient following alleged clinical negligence.