Bereaved families are being denied closure because they are having to wait too long for inquests to be completed, a senior Midlands coroner said today.
Aidan Cotter, coroner for Birmingham and Solihull, called for new legislation to ensure inquests were held within a year of a death. He said there were often lengthy delays because inquests could not be held until other investigations had been carried out.
Mr Cotter also blamed lawyers for dragging out cases, and claimed some even withheld crucial information to protect their clients’ interests.
He said that it would prove helpful to other investigations if inquests were held within a year of someone’s death.
The average time between a person’s death and the conclusion of the inquest is estimated to be 23 weeks, according to Government figures.
Mr Cotter’s comments come after a recent inquest on a baby boy which did not take place until nine years after he died.
The Government has also been criticised over a backlog of inquests into the deaths of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, with some families waiting years to see matters resolved.
Mr Cotter said: “Closure is what it is all about.
“People talk about this being a compensation culture. In my experience, when somebody loses a loved one they do not think, ‘Good-oh, I’m going to get some money’. They feel grief for their loved one and they want to know how he or she came by their death.”
Mr Cotter said he was seeing a growing number of cases taking two or three years to come to inquest, because of bureaucracy.
Cases involving local government, hospitals, health authorities were particularly bad, he said, because lots of lawyers tended to be involved because of fears about potential litigation.
He also said some lawyers were withholding information from inquests, slowing them down greatly.
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