£86,000 is to be spent on refurbishing office space at Seaclose in Newport to establish a dedicated Coroners’ Court for the Isle of Wight, in a bid to reduce one of the worst inquest backlogs in the country. The troubles of the Coroners Service locally are well documented, with a massive backlog of cases accumulating and long waits for grieving families. The Isle of Wight is officially one of the worst places in the country for inquest delays. Before the COVID pandemic, the average wait for an inquest was 35 weeks but that grew to 40 weeks in 2020, 56 weeks in 2021 and 63 weeks in 2022. At the end of 2022, 264 inquests were still open, compared to 188 in 2021, 195 in 2020 and 107 in 2019. The figures for 2023 are not yet known. For the past 3 months, there have been no inquests listed here on the Island, save for 2 ‘in writing’ Section 9C inquests. Island Echo currently has a list of more than 50 deaths of interest which have occurred in the past 3 years, all of which are expected to go to inquest. In the past, His Majesty’s Senior Coroner Caroline Sumeray has blamed a lack of staff, a lack of available court time, availability of witnesses and the pandemic as the reasons for the ongoing delays. But little seems to have been done to resolve the situation. Now, the Isle of Wight Council – which funds the service – has allocated nearly £90,000 to transform the first floor of its offices at Seaclose into a dedicated court. This will provide a large courtroom, jury retiring room, conference rooms and modern office space. This will be in the same building where birth, marriage and death registration is held. It is hoped the first inquests will be held at Seaclose by September. Currently, the Coroners Service has to rely on facilities at the Isle of Wight Combined Court Centre at Quay Street, Newport. Although the Court Service are supportive, their priority is criminal cases. They have not been able to permit the Coroner to use the Crown Court, which is the only courtroom on the Island which has dedicated jury facilities, since Summer 2022. It’s said that this, combined with reduced capacity within the coroner’s team, has significantly impacted the way in which the coroner has been able to deliver the service. However, jury inquests represent a small number of the overall amount of inquests held each year… For inquests that don’t require a jury, which is the vast majority, the Youth Court is normally used. This courtroom is predominantly utilised for criminal matters just 1 day a week, raising questions as to why acquiring court time has been so difficult. During the pandemic years, the Coroner complained about the ventilation in the smaller Youth Court. 
Senior Coroner Caroline Sumeray has said:
“Attending an inquest can be a distressing experience for relatives and loved ones, and we do all we can to ensure anyone attending is made to feel as comfortable as possible. “The new facilities at Seaclose will allow the Coroners Service to have readily available access to a court, which will facilitate the hearing of cases more efficiently, helping to minimise any stress or uncertainty which can come with waiting for an inquest and ensuring that families of the bereaved have their inquests at the earliest opportunity.”
Councillor Karen Lucioni, Cabinet member for bereavement services, added:
“The Coroners Service is used at a hugely difficult and emotional periods in an individual’s life and this renovation will be done with this in mind, to make the inquest and bereavement process as easy, and as positive as is possible. “We are keen to assist the Senior Coroner in processing her caseload and having a courtroom which she can use can only have a positive benefit for families and in delivering an effective service. When not being used as a court the room will provide a large multi-functional room for the delivery of the council’s other services”.
In 2022, Mrs Sumeray said she was hoping to have an Assistant Coroner appointed to enable 2 courts to be run. However, 2 years later, there is no sign of an assistant. The Isle of Wight Council has not answered questions as to whether an Assistant Coroner is going to be appointed as part of this investment in a new Coroners’ Court. Over the water in Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton, the Coroner Service has 1 Senior Coroner, 2 Area Coroners and 7 Assistant Coroners.
