CORONERS

Coroner issuing certificate stating death result of natural causes - coroner having power subsequently to order inquest - test to be applied by court when determining whether to order an inquestTerry v East Sussex Coroner: CA (Lords Justice Simon Brown, May and Dyson): 12 July 2001In May 1994 the deceased, a former asbestos worker, died.

The coroner obtained a post-mortem examination report which stated the primary cause of death as respiratory failure.As a result, the coroner was satisfied that there was no reason to hold an inquest and issued a certificate pursuant to section 19 of the Coroners Act 1988.

The coroner refused a request to hold an inquest on the ground that having issued a certificate under section 19 he was functus officio.The Queen's Bench Divisional Court [2001] 1 QB 559 dismissed an application by the deceased's widow for an order under section 13 of the 1988 Act that an inquest be held.

The widow appealed.Anthony Allston (instructed by Dean Wilson Laing, Brighton) for the applicant.

Jonathan Hough (instructed by the Head of Legal Services, East Sussex County Council, Lewes) for the coroner.Held, dismissing the appeal, that since the section 19 procedure did not take the place of an inquest, a coroner's certificate did not render the coroner functus officio; that the test the court should apply when determining whether to order an inquest under section 13(1)(a) was the same as applied on a judicial review application; that the coroner's decision not to hold an inquest was obviously reasonable; and that, accordingly, there was no basis for granting the application.

(WLR)