Interested persons
What is an interested person
An ‘interested person’ is someone who has specific rights during the coroner’s investigation and at the final inquest hearing. It is a term that is defined in law in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009.
Family members are entitled to be interested persons. The following can also be interested persons: other representatives of the deceased; people involved with the death; people appointed by a government department to contribute to the investigation; and other people as decided by the coroner. You should talk to the coroner about being an interested person if you think this should apply to you.
Rights of interested persons
All interested persons have certain rights during the investigation and at the inquest. These rights are:
- To view the body, and to be told about the post-mortem examination, if there is to be one.
- To be told about the dates and details of any inquest hearings, including any pre-inquest review hearings. Some coroner areas list a schedule of inquest hearings on their webpages, but the coroner’s team should also keep you updated.
- To receive in good time the evidence that may considered at the inquest (also known as ‘disclosure’).
- To make submissions to the coroner about the inquest procedures and conclusions.
- To question witnesses at the inquest. If you have questions then you should talk about these with the coroner’s team, and with your legal representatives if relevant. You should receive guidance on what questions you can and cannot ask during the investigation and at the inquest
The coroner’s team should talk to you and explain your rights in relation to the investigation.
Legal representation and advice
Most bereaved people who attend an inquest will not need legal advice or representation. However, inquest law is a complicated area of law and you may decide to seek legal advice or explore whether legal representation will be necessary or helpful. In some cases, you may want to instruct a solicitor to support you throughout the investigation and represent you at the inquest. This can be helpful if the investigation is complicated, or if others (such as public organisations) have their own legal representation. The coroner’s team may not tell you whether other parties will have legal representation, so you may need to ask them about this. You should tell the coroner’s team if you have your own legal representation.
A lawyer can help to clarify the concerns that you have about the death; explain the relevant parts of law; ensure the right evidence is collected and considered; communicate with the coroner and the coroner’s team; and ask questions on your behalf during the investigation and at the inquest.
If you have your own legal representation, then this will be a solicitor and/or a barrister. They will be your main point of contact, and they will do most of the work during the investigation and to prepare for the inquest. They will then be your representative in the coroner’s court.
The Law Society can help you to find your own legal representation. Some legal firms have solicitors and barristers who specialise in inquests.
Funding of legal representation
Public funding for legal advice or representation is available to bereaved people attending inquests in some circumstances, such as when it is an Article 2 investigation. You can find out more about legal aid here.
Some people may obtain legal advice or representation on a ‘pro bono’ or conditional fee basis. Pro bono support is legal input that is provide free of charge. Conditional support may be on a ‘no win no fee’ basis, if the inquest is to be followed by a civil claim by the bereaved family.
Other bereaved people may opt to fund legal advice or representation themselves.
Your role at an inquest
There are many ways in which you can be involved at the inquest. This may include attending to observe, being a witness, or providing a pen portrait statement about the deceased. If the coroner does not ask you to attend the inquest as a witness, then it is up to you to decide if you want to go to the inquest. If the coroner has said that you are an interested person, this means you have certain rights during the investigation and at the inquest. But you are not obliged to take up interested person status for an inquest. If you are invited by the coroner to be an interested person, as a bereaved person, you can choose whether or not to take up this status, and whether how much to participate actively in the process.
Being a witness at the inquest
The coroner may ask you to be a witness at the inquest. If this happens, you may have to give a written statement to the coroner’s team as part of the investigation. The coroner may just include your written statement as part of the evidence considered at the inquest. In some cases, the coroner will read some or all of your statement during the inquest.
You might be asked by the coroner to attend the inquest hearing as a witness, in person or remotely, to give oral evidence. You may be issued with a summons to attend, in which case you may face penalties if you do not attend. All witnesses giving evidence at the coroner’s court have to take an oath or make an affirmation that they will tell the truth to the court. Each witness then has to answer the coroner’s questions, followed by questions from any other interested persons or their lawyers.
If you attend the coroner’s court as a witness, you should ask the coroner’s office how to claim reasonable travel expenses.
Statement about the deceased person
Bereaved relatives (or others where applicable) may be offered the opportunity to make a statement about the life and character of the deceased person. This statement is commonly called a ‘pen portrait’. Such statements are often included at the start of an inquest, but the coroner will decide if and when such statements are read to the court.
The coroner’s team (or your legal representatives if applicable) should tell you about this opportunity, and support you with preparing the statement. If this does not happen and you wish to make such a statement, then you should ask the coroner’s team about this.
The coroner’s team may provide guidance on the statement. This can include how long it should be and the kinds of things that should and should not be included. If you think it will be too hard for you to read the statement yourself at court, then you can ask someone else to do this, or the coroner may read the statement to the court.
Some coroners will allow a photo of the deceased person to be shown at the inquest. The coroner will decide whether the photo can be seen throughout the inquest, or at certain times only. A coroner may also allow a short video about the deceased person to be shown to the court.
We wanted them to see him as a person. You know, he was a son, he was a brother, he was a cousin and he was a friend to a lot of people. And that’s what we wanted to get through: that he was more than just a prisoner. Mother
To have a picture of her to be part of it as well, just to remind everybody … that this name on the documents that they're talking about was a person, and a young person, who had funny coloured hair.