HM Senior Coroner for North West Wales v

Under Coroners Act 1988, the court may quash a previous inquisition and order a fresh investigation where there are new facts or evidence and the interests of justice make a further inquest desirable or necessary. New evidence concerning the fundamental identity of a deceased person can satisfy that test where it is credible, relevant and would have been admissible at the original inquest. The interests of justice may require a fresh investigation where later evidence apparently establishes the deceased’s identity for the first time.

Unidentified human remains were found in Anglesey in 1994. An inquest in 1995 recorded the identity as unidentified human remains, the cause of death as unascertained, and an open verdict. Later DNA analysis strongly supported the conclusion that the remains were those of a woman who had disappeared in Ireland.

The claimant, Her Majesty’s Senior Coroner for North West Wales, obtained the Attorney General’s authority and applied under s.13 of the Coroners Act 1988 to quash the earlier inquisition and obtain an order for a fresh investigation under Part 1 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.

1. The claim was allowed. The inquisition dated 30 March 1995 was quashed, and the claimant was ordered to hold a fresh investigation under Part 1 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.
2. Once an inquest into a death has been held, the coroner is functus officio. The statutory mechanism for reopening the matter is s.13 of the Coroners Act 1988, following the required Attorney General’s authority and procedural formalities.
3. Under s.13(1)(b), the court may grant relief where there are new facts or evidence and the interests of justice make a further inquest desirable or necessary. The later DNA evidence, together with circumstantial evidence concerning the disappearance, was credible, relevant and would have been admissible at the original inquest.
4. The evidence went to the fundamental issue of the deceased’s identity and therefore constituted new facts or evidence within s.13. The interests of justice required a fresh investigation because the evidence apparently established the identity of the deceased for the first time.
5. The court also noted the intended exhumation and identification of the remains and, if appropriate, their transfer to Ireland. Mr Justice Dingemans agreed.

First-instance decision. The judgment records the earlier inquest held by the then Coroner for Anglesey on 30 March 1995, which was quashed by this court.