The Isle of Wight is now one of the worst places in the country for inquest delays, with grieving families having to wait, on average, 63 weeks for closure, but many are waiting years.
The coronial system is said to be in crisis and ‘on its knees’, according to The Times, with funding issues, inadequate staffing and long delays to blame. Chief Coroner Judge Thomas Teague KC has even admitted that some coroners face unacceptable and unsustainable levels of pressure and that long delays can ‘corrode public confidence’.
Inquests should be concluded within 6 months, but the average delay across the country is creeping up, to 30 weeks in 2022. The number of inquests open for more than 2 years has quadrupled from 378 in 2017 to 1,760 last year and in the same period, the number of cases open for over a year rose from 1,297 to more than 4,400.
Shockingly, on the Isle of Wight, the average time for an inquest to be completed has risen to 63 weeks – now ranked the 3rd worst area in the country according to official data. In 2019 that average was just 35 weeks, meaning the average delay has skyrocketed 80% in just 3 years. Last August we reported that the delay had increased to 56 weeks.
North Lincolnshire tops the longest average delay table at 72 weeks followed by Inner South London at 67 weeks.
As of the start of this year, there were 264 Isle of Wight inquests still open, 98 of which related to deaths that occurred over 12 months ago. 36 of those 98 deaths occurred over 2 years ago.
In 2022, a total of 747 deaths were recorded on the Isle of Wight. 21% of these deaths (157) led to an inquest being opened by Caroline Sumeray, Senior Coroner for the Isle of Wight. However, last year a total of 105 inquests were closed by Mrs Sumeray (down from 196 in 2021), so instantly there is a deficit of 52 without taking into account the inquests already outstanding.
Island Echo currently has a list of more than 30 names of deaths that are expected to go to inquest, the oldest of which dates back to July 2021. However, Island Echo is aware of at least 1 inquest that remains open for a death that occurred over 5 years ago. It was due to be heard back in April, but was pushed back at the 11th hour due to illness. The case is yet to be heard.
The law was recently changed to enable hearings to be held ‘in writing’. A number of these Section 9C hearings have been held in recent months, but the inquest backlog is still lengthy.
It’s known that funding has been an issue for the coroner’s office locally, with the service funded by the local authority – the Isle of Wight Council. Unlike many other places in the country, the Isle of Wight does not have an assistant coroner.
Last year Mrs Sumeray said that the Isle of Wight Council had endeavoured to recruit additional staff to support the service and hoped an Assistant Coroner would be appointed so she could run 2 courts to hear outstanding inquests. Island Echo has this week asked the Council if it intends to fund an Assistant Coroner. In response, a spokesperson for the local authority has said:
“The Senior Coroner and the Council have been in ongoing discussions about the Coroner’s Service requirements, which include funding, adequate Courtroom provision and personnel generally, in the light of the substantial increase in complex Coronial work on the Island, which has impacted the delivery of the service.
“It’s worth mentioning that the number of inquests concluded thus far this year is approximately equal to the number of inquests completed in the whole of 2022. It should be remembered that the fastest Coroners Service doesn’t necessarily provide the most thorough level of investigation and inquiry – something which the Isle of Wight Coroner is passionate about providing to the families she serves.”
Mrs Sumerary said in August 2022:
“It’s fair to say all Coroners have struggled with the restrictions imposed by COVID to a greater or lesser extent, and this has caused most of us to have some degree of delay in the hearing of inquests. Some areas are better resourced and make greater inroads into their backlog than others.
“The situation is improving and will continue to improve, but provision of this service requires cooperation from a number of significant stakeholders.”
Currently, there are no inquests listed to be heard on the Isle of Wight in the coming weeks.
Maybe if the coroner lived on the IOW it would be better?
Does she not? Did not know that…
Maybe if the coroners office wasn’t such a toxic, unpleasant place to work (nothing to do with the fact that it involves death often in traumatic circumstances) they could not only recruit, but also retain staff.
Maybe if people were a bit less careless or moronic (ahem drug/drink drivers and jilted lovers who stab their significant others) they would not be an unnatural death statistic and the wait time for a hearing would be a bit less.
Only just read this after CC’ing IE into a complaint to the Coroner’s office. Its been 85 weeks since my Father died after being hit by a car in Binstead. Still no sign of an inquest. Coroner says the Police are to blame. Meeting them soon….
Dreadful state of affairs