Revision wanted of coroners’ courts

Press, 27 May 1981, Page 5

Revision wanted of coroners’ courts

By

Ken Coates in London

Calls for drastic revision of the system of coroners’ courts in Britain are being made in the aftermath of the inquest into the deaths of 13 black youths who died in the Deptford fire. The “open” verdict of the jury has left bereaved parents and the black community angry and bewildered.

There is a strong feeling that a coroner, accustomed to suicides and car crashes, should not be expected to tackle politically-charged inquiries such as one into the Deptford fire, or the death of the New Zealander, Blair Peach, last year. The former Labour Agriculture Minister (Mr John Silkin), a lawyer, has said it is too much to expect an ordinary coroner to handle a matter as sensitive as the fire deaths.

The Lord Chancellor should have the discretion to

appoint a High Court judge to hear such cases, he contends. If necessary, more judges should be appointed. “A particular problem in cases where the police may be criticised,” Mr Silkin says, “is that a coroner is very closely connected with the police. He is briefed by the police, and his officer is a policeman. “Without criticising the coroner concerned, one notes that relatives have come away from this inquest, and from the Blair Peach inquest, with the feeling that they did not get a fair hearing because the Coroner inevitably appeared to them as an agent of the police.” Mr Greville Janner Q.C., another distinguished lawyerpolitician, has questioned whether the system of coroners and coroners’ courts should be retained at all. “The system is archaic, unsatisfactory and clumsy, leaving the bereaved with a sense of anguish and frustration,” he said.

“Deptford • merely spotlighted the defects of a system rooted in antiquity? I would support a Royal Commission investigating the setup and recommending radical changes.” Mr Janner is critical because there are no satisfactory rules about matters such as cross-examination — it was all up to the Coroner. Controversy has in the past focused on coroners’ ) qualifications. Dr Arthur Dai vies, aged 63, the Southwark s Coroner whose conduct of the inquest is at the root of the debate, is legally and medically qualified. He was a general practitioner before being called to the Bar, then served three years as deputy to Sir William Bentley Purchase before taking over as the coroner 22 years ago. He is the longest-serving coroner in London and exofficio the Queen’s Coroner, hearing inquests into deaths within the purlieus of Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle.