What information can I ask the Coroner's Court to provide

[hobbes]

Hello All

This is my first post here, having found the forum by search engine.

In the last couple of days I have learnt of the death of a close personal friend. She and I were in a relationship until I left the UK in 2005 for pressing family reasons. Since then, we kept in contact by occasional email - nothing too dramatic, just the odd joke email etc. I last heard from her in March 2010 but wasn't overly concerned as I knew that she'd moved on a to a new relationship and assumed that the contact would fizzle out at some point.

I am on a visit to the UK at the moment, and have discovered that she was found dead in her bed in May 2010. It seems as though she had ended the new relationship some weeks before (and is reported to have been OK with that), she had just been promoted at work, and was about to receive a windfall which she planned to spend on home improvements.

I'm led to believe that the Coroner's verdict was one of death by natural causes (I'm aware that she had an underlying medical condition) and there seems to be no suggestion that she took her own life, or of any foul play.

Yesterday I had a long chat with her father (who found her body having called to check on her) and he filled me in on some of the details.

There are one or two things about the circumstances he related to me that disturb me slightly.

In an effort to set my mind at rest, I did a little research with the help of the usual search engines, and gained the impression that the detail of the Inquest would be in the public domain. Hoping that reading the transcript and/or supporting reports would allay my concerns I rang the relevant Coroner's Court this morning. I was told that I could call to the court and collect a copy of the findings, but that there "wasn't really" any other information to be had.

This seems to be at odds with everything else I've managed to read on this subject. As the inquest is held in open court, shouldn't the records also be available? Is it necessary to present a request for this information in a particular format?

Any input or guidance would be most welcome.

[leclerc]

Re: What information can I ask the Coroner's Court to provide

Coroners, post-mortems and inquests : Directgov - Government, citizens and rights

Am not sure if the direct gov link will help with regards to coroner's court and their processes. I guess it will be a matter of what the coroner has found out if any witnesses were called and whether much of a transcript would have been needed

[hobbes]

Re: What information can I ask the Coroner's Court to provide

Coroners, post-mortems and inquests : Directgov - Government, citizens and rights

Thanks leclerc - I notice that the Directgov site provides a link to the independent INQUEST charity group (INQUEST - United Campaigns For Justice). I have sent them a message and I hope that they will reply with an authoritative answer.

I understand that there were witness testimonies given, and that there was an autopsy report provided. These are the key pieces of information that I'd like to acquaint myself with.