Families at Inquests Should Get Funding if Police do, Says Chief Coroner

Bereaved relatives should be granted legal aid at inquests in which the government pays for lawyers to represent police officers or other state employees, the chief coroner has urged. Judge Mark Lucraft QC’s recommendation in his first annual report will add to the growing pressure on the government to grant special funding to families seeking justice in controversial cases such as deaths in police custody, in prison or while waiting for an ambulance. Among his proposals for changes to the law, Lucraft’s report, published on Thursday, proposes that the lord chancellor, David Lidington, “gives consideration to amending the exceptional funding guidance (inquests) so as to provide exceptional funding for legal representation for the family where the state has agreed to provide separate representation for one or more interested persons”.

Read more: Owen Bowcott, Guardian, http://bit.ly/2kk3XDq