Chief Coroner of England Wales HHJ Mark Lucraft

Chief Coroner of England & Wales HHJ Mark Lucraft QC November, 2018

Who is he? • Barrister in practice between 1984 -2012. Specialising in criminal law with an emphasis on serious and complex fraud. • Appointed QC in 2006 • Recorder in 2004 • Circuit Judge 2012. • Seconded to Central Criminal Court April 2015. • Appointed as Chief Coroner of England & Wales October 2016. • Permanent Judge at the Central Criminal Court February 2017.

Two roles - crime • Sitting as a judge at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey) – major criminal trials in London and South-East but also cases of national importance: • Homicide • Terrorism • Sitting in the Court of Appeal – Criminal Division – sentence and conviction appeals

Old Bailey • Recent trials: • 5 handed murder case – shooting • Attempted murder in a car • Terrorism – funding • Attempted murder • Murder/manslaughter, conspiracy to rob

Legal issues that arise • Joint enterprise • Young defendants • Mental health issues • Sentencing on manslaughter • Confiscation

Chief Coroner. • National lead for coroners in England & Wales • Training • Guidance • Reporting to Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice • Sitting as a judge in the High Court on judicial reviews • Dealing with applications for inquests where there is no body • Applications for inquests after burial or cremation

Work in progress • Key issue – consistency of approach. • Review of cases over 12 months – understanding why? • An appraisal scheme for coroners – January 2019 • Mentoring for full-time coroners • Workshops for part-time coroners interested in full-time appointment. • Workshops for those considering applying to be assistant coroners.

Work in progress • Guidance – 2017 - Do. LS, and Organ Donation • 2018 – prioritisation, • Coming soon: ‘short form’ inquests, second post-mortems • Reg. 28 reports. • Revising Mo. Us between coroners and others. • Pathologists willing to do coronial work

What next? • Annual report due to be published. • Visits to coroner areas – on-going • Medical examiners – April 2019? • Local authority conference • Chief Coroner’s Conference. • Modern ways of working – going digital • Attacking inconsistency

Stats for 2017 - headlines. • 229, 700 deaths reported to coroners in 2017. • What of deaths not reported? • Registered deaths – 533, 118 • 43% of all registered deaths reported – 3% down on 2016 • 85, 600 post-mortem examinations ordered by coroners in 2017. Since 1995 decrease from 61% to 31% (proportion of deaths) • Time to inquest (from date of death to conclusion) 21 weeks

Stats (2). • Excluding Do. LS, deaths in state detention 528. • Deaths while detained under Mental Heath Act. • Deaths in prison custody. • Deaths in police custody. • 31, 519 inquests opened in 2017 – down 18% - Do. LS • In 127, 601 cases - no post-mortem and no inquest.

Stats (3). • 33, 945 inquest conclusions recorded. • 49% of conclusions take 2 forms: natural causes (27%), accident/misadventure (22%). Suicide at a steady 9%. • Figures at extremes of particular concern. • PMs rates -21% and 59% why? • Note: 1, 671 PMs using less invasive techniques • 23% of all PMs include histology (as 2016). 20% PMs including toxicology + 5% • Time taken to inquest - 9 weeks and 45 weeks why? .

Challenges going forward. § Medical Examiners – key part of the reforms in the 2009 Act § Clarity of circumstances when a death should be reported to the coroner § Adequate provision of resources by local authorities § Consistency of approach by coroners § Consistency of reporting on preventing future death. § Dame Elish Angiolini report § Bishop James Jones report

Questions? HHJ Mark Lucraft QC chiefcoronersoffice@judiciary. gsi. gov. uk