General Inquest Notices

Larry Fedja

INQUEST supports legal challenge to the guidance on Inquest funding

INQUEST UPDATE: Verdict expected soon!source: INQUEST
published: 5 February 2015

At a hearing for permission for Judicial Review on 2nd October 2014, Joanna Letts was granted permission to pursue her challenge that the Lord Chancellor’s Guidance on Inquest funding is flawed and unlawful. 

The full hearing [took place] on 5th February.  The Equality and Human Rights Commission has been granted permission to Intervene in the case due to its importance.

The Facts

Joanna Letts, is a single mother, with four young children and she lives in Lambeth. Her brother, Christopher Letts was aged 29 when on 19.8.2013 he threw himself under a train at Tooting Bec station whilst mentally unwell.

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Tippa Naphtali

Inquest Jury watched moment Birmingham dad collapsed in cell as officers laughed and joked outside

Jan Butler, mother of Lloyd Butler - pic by Linda Chapman
Jan Butler, mother of Lloyd Butler – pic by Linda Chapman

source: Birmingham Mail 
published: 18 June 2014

A jury watched the horrific moment a Birmingham dad collapsed face down in his police cell and went into cardiac arrest – after ‘distracted’ officers had been laughing and joking outside. CCTV showed officers browsing the force Facebook page and chatting about the Blues before Lloyd Butler, 39, staggered around his cell and later hit his head on the wall.

The dad-of-two was supposed to be on “constant watch” but PC Dean Woodcock, giving evidence, admitted officers had failed to check on his condition every 30 minutes, and later every 15 minutes. He confessed there had been “distractions” from colleagues.

Mr Butler, from Tile Cross, was taken to Stechford police station on August 4, 2010, after reportedly becoming aggressive towards his family when he returned from drinking with friends and appeared drunk.

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4WardEverUK

Relief after truth about custody death emerges

Lenny McCourtby: The Northern Echo  
published: 31st October 2012

The family of a grandfather who died in police custody today spoke of their relief at the truth finally emerging at an inquest into his death – that he had died while being transported in a police van.

Relatives spoke after members of a jury said they believed Lenny McCourt, who had been pepper sprayed during his arrest, died in transit on the short journey between his home in Ash Crescent, in Seaham and Peterlee Police Station, County Durham.

Mr McCourt’s sister-in-law Tracey McCourt, speaking on behalf of the family following the 11-day hearing in Crook, said: “They are the best words that could have been said. Because it is what we have always believed – that Lenny died in the police van.

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