R (Morahan) v West London Assistant Coroner
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Burnett,Maldon,Nicola Davies,Baker |
| Judgment Date | 28 October 2022 |
| Neutral Citation | [2022] EWCA Civ 1410 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
[2022] EWCA Civ 1410
Before Lord Burnett of Maldon, Lord Chief Justice, Lady Justice Nicola Davies and Lord Justice Baker
COURT OF APPEAL
There was no obligation on a coroner to hold an inquest which fulfilled the enhanced investigative duty, required when agents of the state might have been under a duty to take steps to protect the deceased from death, in circumstances where the deceased had been a voluntary patient with a history of drug abuse, was residing at a community-based open rehabilitation unit operated by an NHS trust, but had died of an accidental drug overdose while away from the unit.
The Court of Appeal so held in dismissing the appeal of the claimant, Jessica Morahan (cousin of the deceased, Tanya Morahan), from the decision of the Divisional Court (Lord Justice Popplewell, Mr Justice Garnham and Judge Teague KC, Chief Coroner of England and Wales)([2021] QB 1205) upholding the decision of the Assistant Coroner for West London.
Pursuant to article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guaranteed the right to life, an operational duty might arise that required the state to take steps within its power to protect an individual from death. When a death occurred in such circumstances there then arose a procedural duty to investigate the death.
Paul Bowen KC and Paul Clark for the...
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R (on the application of Maguire) v HM Senior Coroner for Blackpool & Fylde and another
...from the meticulous judgment of Popplewell LJ in R (Morahan) v West London Assistant Coroner [2021] EWHC 1603 (Admin); [2021] QB 1205 (“ Morahan”); on appeal, the decision was upheld in a short judgment which approved the reasons given by Popplewell LJ: [2022] EWCA Civ 1410; [2023] 2 WLR 4......