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Inquest law is changing as the Coroner and Justice Bill is currently being debated in Parliament. The bits about Coroners and inquests have been added to other justice legislation to form a hybrid Bill (Guardian Article - 19/01/09)

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Bill to amend the law relating to coroners and to certification and registration of deaths; to amend the criminal law; to make provision about criminal justice and about dealing with offenders; to make provision about the Commissioner for Victims and Witnesses; to make provision relating to the security of court and other buildings; to make provision about legal aid; to make provision for payments to be made by offenders in respect of benefits derived from the exploitation of material pertaining to offences; to amend the Data Protection Act 1998; and for connected purposes.

We will post more detail about this as the Bill progresses through Parliament. Some interesting parts of it include:

1 There'll be a Chief Coroner. One benefit of this is that the bereaved who wish to appeal about an inquest will be able to appeal to the Chief Coroner and it is intended that this will be easier than now when a family would have to go to a High Court and seek a judge's ruling.

2 There will be a charter for the bereaved which will set out what families can expect from the Coroner service.

3 Coroners will be given the power to appoint a jury if they see fit. This could be important as one of the current reasons which compels coroners to appoint a jury is being removed by this Bill. Section 8 (3) (d) of the 1988 Coroner's Act compels a coroner to appoint a jury if "the death occurred in circumstances the continuance or possible recurrence of which is prejudicial to the health or safety of the public or any section of the public."
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