The grieving family who says the coroner's courts aren't working
A grieving family reports significant issues with the UK coroner's court system, citing hostility and lack of transparency. Experts and MPs acknowledge that the system is struggling with backlogs and increasing case complexity.
Why it matters
The coroner's court is a critical state function for families during trauma; systemic failures here represent a significant breakdown in public service and justice.
The grieving family who says the coroner's courts aren't working
Image source, Daniel Lindsay By Michael Buchanan Social affairs correspondent Sarah thought she knew what she was getting into when she attended a coroner's court in May 2024 to discuss the death of her second cousin.
Her day job as a murder detective meant she was used to courts, to judges, to legal argument. What she wasn't prepared for was a coroner's court. "I felt like I was on trial," she recalls of her first hearing, in Woking, Surrey. "I remember just feeling completely railroaded… It [was] far more hostile than I had ever expected."
Her cousin, Daniel Lindsay, died in 2023, aged 41. He had lived at a home in Surrey that specialises in caring for people with learning disabilities. Daniel also had Down Syndrome and type 1 diabetes.
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