R Southall BLACK SISTERS v HM CORONER for West Yorkshire
Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
Judge | MR JUSTICE JACKSON |
Judgment Date | 05 July 2002 |
Neutral Citation | [2002] EWHC 1914 (Admin) |
Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
Docket Number | CO/1187/2002 |
Date | 05 July 2002 |
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
ADMINISTRATIVE COURT
MR JUSTICE JACKSON
CO/1187/2002
MR RABINDER SINGH QC and MR DANIEL FRIEDMAN (instructed by Messrs Christian Fisher, London WC1A 1LY) appeared on behalf of the Claimant.
MR IAN BURNETT QC (instructed by Department of Legal Services, Bradford Metropolitan District Council appeared on behalf of the Respondent.
This judgment is in seven parts, namely:
Part 2 The facts
Part 3 The present proceedings
Part 4 Is it arguable that the coroner erred in law in refusing to resume the inquest?
Part 5 Is it arguable that the coroner erred in law in failing to recognise the claimant as an interested party?
Part 6 Is the claimant, who has no direct connection with either of the two deceased, entitled to bring this judicial review claim?
Part 7 Conclusion
Introduction
This is an application for permission to proceed with a claim for judicial review. The claimant, the Southall Black Sisters, is a company limited by guarantee. Southall Black Sisters is a women's organisation founded in 1979 to represent the interests of Asian and Afro-Caribbean women. Although it is based in Southall, London, it helps women from across the country. Most women who come to see the claimant are from South Asian backgrounds experiencing domestic violence.
The claimant runs a resource centre providing information, advice, advocacy, counselling and support to women and children. It deals with many cases and enquiries every year and has a national reputation for possessing expertise on the needs of abused Asian women and girls. The claimant provides expert reports for inquests and criminal cases at the request of litigants, solicitors, counsel and other individuals and agencies. The claimant has also provided expert reports and submissions to researchers, practitioners and local and national bodies.
The defendant is Her Majesty's Coroner for West Yorkshire. I shall refer to him simply as "the coroner."
The proposed claim for judicial review arises out of the coroner's refusal to resume two adjourned inquests following the conclusion of criminal proceedings. The two deceased were Nazia Bi and her two year-old daughter, Sana Majid Ali. In this judgment I shall refer to the daughter as Sana. The husband of Nazia Bi, and the father of Sana, was Chowdry Majid Ali, to whom I shall refer as "Mr Ali."
The statutory framework within which this case arises is as follows. The Coroners Act 1998 ("the Coroners Act") provides for the holding of inquests.Section 8(1) of the Coroners Act states:
"Where a coroner is informed that the body of a person ("the deceased") is lying within his district and there is reasonable cause to suspect that the deceased—
(a)has died a violent or an unnatural death;
(b)has died a sudden death of which the cause is unknown; or
…
then, whether the cause of death arose within his district or not, the coroner shall as soon as practicable hold an inquest into the death of the deceased either with or, subject to subsection (3) below, without a jury."
Section 11 of the Coroners Act sets out the procedure for the inquest and the form which the inquisition must take.Section 16 of the Coroners Act provides:
"(1) If on an inquest into a death the coroner before the conclusion of the inquest—
(a)is informed by the [justices' chief executive for] a magistrates' court under section 17(1) below that some person has been charged before a magistrate's court with—
(i) the murder, manslaughter or infanticide of the deceased;
…
then subject to subsection (2) below, the coroner shall, in the absence of reasons to the contrary, adjourn the inquest until after the conclusion of the relevant criminal proceedings and, if a jury has been summoned, may, if he thinks fit, discharge them.
(3) After the conclusion of the relevant criminal proceedings, or on being notified under paragraph (b) of subsection (2) above before their conclusion, the coroner may, subject to the following provisions of this section, resume the adjourned inquest if in his opinion there is sufficient cause to do so.
(6) Where a coroner resumes an inquest which has been adjourned in compliance with subsection (1) above and for that purpose summons a jury (but not where he resumes without a jury, or with the same jury as before the adjournment)—
(a)he shall proceed in all respects as if the inquest had not previously been begun; and
(b)subject to subsection (7) below, the provisions of this Act shall apply accordingly as if the resumed inquest were a fresh inquest.
(7) Where a coroner resumes an inquest which has been adjourned in compliance with subsection (1) above—
(a)the finding of the inquest as to the cause of death must not be inconsistent with the outcome of the relevant criminal proceedings…"
The Coroners Rules 1984 ("the Coroners Rules") make more detailed provision for the conduct of inquests. The Coroners Rules include the following provisions:
"20 Entitlement to examine witnesses
(1) Without prejudice to any enactment with regard to the examination of witnesses at an inquest, any person who satisfies the coroner that he is within paragraph (2) shall be entitled to examine any witness at an inquest either in person or by [an authorised advocate …];
…
(2) Each of the following persons shall have the rights conferred by paragraph (1):—
(a)a parent, child, spouse and any personal representative of the deceased;
(b)any beneficiary under a policy of insurance issued on the life of the deceased;
(c) the insurer who issued such a policy of insurance;
(d)any person whose act or omission or that of his agent or servant may in the opinion of the coroner have caused, or contributed to, the death of the deceased;
(e)any person appointed by a trade union to which the deceased at the time of his death belonged, if the death of the deceased may have been caused by an injury received in the course of his employment or by an industrial disease;
(f)an inspector appointed by, or a representative of, an enforcing authority, or any person appointed by a government department to attend the inquest;
(g)the chief officer of police;
(h) any other person who, in the opinion of the coroner, is a properly interested person.
36 Matters to be ascertained at inquest
(1) The proceedings and evidence at an inquest shall be directed solely to ascertaining the following matters, namely—
(a)who the deceased was;
(b)how, when and where the deceased came by his death;
(c)the particulars for the time being required by the Registration Acts to be registered concerning the death.
(2) Neither the coroner nor the jury shall express any opinion on any other matters.
42 Verdict No verdict shall be framed in such a way as to appear to determine any question of—
(a)criminal liability on the part of a named person, or
(b)civil liability.
43 Prevention of similar fatalities
A coroner who believes that action should be taken to prevent the recurrence of fatalities similar to that in respect of which the inquest is being held may announce at the inquest that he is reporting the matter in writing to the person or authority who may have power to take such action and he may report the matter accordingly."
Two other instruments should be mentioned in this introduction. The first is Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.Article 2 provides so far as material:
"Everyone's right to life shall be protected by law."
The second is the United Nations Declaration on the elimination of violence against women. This is General Assembly resolution 48/104 of 20 December 1993. I shall refer to this as "the UN Declaration".Article 4 of the UN Declaration states:
"States should condemn violence against women and should not invoke any custom, tradition or religious consideration to avoid their obligations with respect to its elimination. States should pursue by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating violence against women and, to this end, should:
…
(c) Exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate and, in accordance with national legislation, punish acts of violence against women, whether those acts are perpetrated by the State or by private persons."
Having set out these matters by way of introduction I must now turn to the facts of the present case.
The facts
Nazia Bi and her husband lived in Bradford. Nazia Bi was deeply unhappy in her marriage. Sometime in or before early March 1999 she apparently told four individuals (Sabina Bibi, Nazir Khan, Shazir Zeb and Shazir Mugal) of her plan to set fire to her home and then escape from the marriage. According to Shazir Zeb, who was Nazia Bi's sister, the gist of what Nazia Bi said was as follows:
"First of all she had to change the names of herself and Sana to something else and then get a credit card in the new names. Before leaving her house in Bradford she would give Majid his breakfast and see him off to work. She would then set fire to the bedroom, the small one at the back where people taking their children to school would not notice. Then she and Sana would escape unseen in Aleeza's car and go to the new flat. Everyone would think that she and Sana were dead and would not search for them. They would be long gone before the police and fire brigade arrived"
On 10th March 1999 Nazia Bi told the police that she had been forced into her marriage and that she was the victim of domestic violence from her husband and brother.
On 18th March...
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