Simon Mueller v HM Area Coroner for Manchester West
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | Sir Brian Leveson P,Mrs Justice Whipple,Lucraft |
| Judgment Date | 22 November 2017 |
| Neutral Citation | [2017] EWHC 3000 (Admin) |
| Court | Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) |
| Docket Number | CO/1310/2017,Case No: CO/1310/2017 |
| Date | 22 November 2017 |
[2017] EWHC 3000 (Admin)
THE PRESIDENT OF THE QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION ( Sir Brian Leveson)
Mrs Justice Whipple D.B.E.
HIS HONOUR JUDGE Lucraft Q.C. (CHIEF CORONER FOR ENGLAND AND WALES)
Case No: CO/1310/2017
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
DIVISIONAL COURT
Royal Courts of Justice
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL
Hugo Keith Q.C. for the Claimant
Alison Hewitt for the Defendant
Hearing date: 22 November
Approved Judgment
This application is brought by Mr Simon Mueller pursuant to s. 13 of the Coroners Act 1988 (“the Act”). With the consent of the Solicitor General, he seeks an order quashing the inquest conducted by Her Majesty's Area Coroner for Manchester West into the death of his wife, Ms Nicole Christine Putney. Mr Mueller also requests that the court order a fresh investigation into Ms Putney's death on the basis that it would be in the interests of justice for the court to do so due to a procedural irregularity or otherwise.
The Facts
In the early hours of 29 May 2015, Ms Nicole Christine Putney, born 4 October 1982, committed suicide in the Novotel Hotel, Worsley Brow, Worsley, Salford.
It is clear that Ms Putney had a complicated and difficult personal life. Her relationship with her husband (whom she had known for a considerable period but only married in January 2015) had broken down, and she was also battling serious mental health problems as she had since her teenage years. Furthermore, whilst clearly being an intelligent and talented young woman (being a fully qualified veterinary surgeon), she had also encountered setbacks during her employment which had lowered her self-esteem.
Notwithstanding her marriage in January 2015, between November 2014 and May 2015, Ms Putney made a number of threats upon and attempts to take her own life. In March 2015, she was diagnosed with mixed anxiety depressive disorder complicated by suicidal ideas and borderline personality traits. She was treated as an inpatient at the Nightingale Hospital, London, for the period 10 March 2015 until 27 April 2015 and thereafter received outpatient care in the form of psychiatric appointments and individual therapy at the hospital.
It is important to underline that Mr Mueller and Ms Putney clearly cared deeply for each other, although their relationship was characterised by upheaval (not the least involving moving from the United States to France). They had made a number of attempts to make their marriage work notwithstanding the persistent nature of Ms Putney's ill health. Unfortunately, however, it is clear that Ms Putney's mental health issues were exacerbated by the stress caused to her by the instability in her relationship with Mr Mueller, although during the course of treatment she became more able to accept that her mood states and ways of relating to him were having a detrimental effect.
Whilst attending a conference in Manchester on 28 May 2015, Ms Putney found herself in an extremely low state. She contacted her counsellor, Dr. Werner Kierski, by text, expressing her distress and disappointment in Mr Mueller. Dr Kierski engaged with Ms Putney, and attempted to instil self-awareness with the aim of her being able to manage her stress better; the two agreed that she would take a tranquiliser and that he would call her in the morning. Dr Kierski also contacted Mr Mueller to ask whether someone could check on Ms Putney as he was concerned about the fact that she had mentioned suicide.
Because of his concern, Mr Mueller contacted Ms Putney's parents (in America) by e-mail; they subsequently contacted the hotel. Tragically, however, by the time assistance could get to Ms Putney, she had already hanged herself.
An inquest into Ms Putney' death was opened on 3 June 2015, and adjourned. Thereafter, and (pursuant to Rule 23 of the Coroner's (Inquests) Rules 2013 referred to as “the Rules”) perfectly appropriately, by e-mail dated 19 August 2015, the Coroner's Officer wrote to Mr Mueller in these terms:
“I enclose the witness list and the statements of witnesses who will give evidence at the Inquest as requested by way of advanced disclosure. …
The Area Coroner … is seeking your consent upon receipt of the advanced disclosure to deal with Nicole's inquest by way of a documentary hearing reaching the conclusion that Nicole Christine Putney's death was due to suicide.
I would be grateful if you could confirm as soon as possible if you would be satisfied for the Area Coroner to deal with Nicole's inquest in this manner.”
On 2 September, the same officer sought confirmation that Mr Mueller and Ms Putney' parents had received the documentation that would be referred to at the Inquest and asked whether the family accepted “the Verdict/Conclusion of Suicide” in order that the inquest could be based on “papers rather than witness attendance”. On the following day, Mr Mueller did confirm that he and the family had received the documentation, accepted the Verdict/Conclusion and, furthermore, that “the inquest may be dealt with based on papers”.
The statements included a detailed account from Mr Mueller outlining the very significant psychiatric and psychological problems from which his wife had suffered over many years and two statements from the Nightingale Hospital (being a 15 page medical report from her consultant psychiatrist and a report from Dr Kierski both of whom were based there). In addition, of critical importance to this application, there was a statement from Det. Insp. Koran Sellars, of the Greater Manchester Police, who had been the night duty inspector on 29 May 2015. She had attended the hotel after being alerted to Ms. Putney's death. In her statement, Det. Insp. Sellars recounted how she found a notepad with writing on the floor next to the bed in Ms Putney' hotel room. As to this note, she recorded in her statement:
“The first part of the note offered apologies to friends and family. After this part of the note there was a line drawn and the second part of the note appeared to be for a u/k [unknown] female, who from what was written appeared to [ sic] involved in an affair with the writers [ sic] husband. The note stated that ‘he would leave her to’ [ sic] and the note made references to divorce proceedings. The note referred to ‘FUCK THE DIVORCE LAWYERS.” [The capital letters appear in the statement.]
The statement exhibited the manuscript note. In summary, the first part of the note was written in the first person singular. In it, Ms Putney described how she had taken risks, made herself an alien, isolated herself and run away from her profession. She accused Mr Mueller of abandoning and betraying her but nevertheless described her continuing love for him. She went on to set out her loneliness, her tiredness and her pain. She ended this part of the note with the words:
“I'm tired of faking it for the world and dealing with the shame when I'm too tired to keep my mask on. I'm tired of doctors and therapists. I'm the only one to save myself and I've decided not to. I'm very sorry to my friends – the few I have – and family. But I was never present in anyone's life very consistently. I hope that helps it be less painful when I'm gone. It should.”
There is then a horizontal line and underneath this line, there is written the following:
“Fight it. Think of all the pain he's caused you since reality landed in Sept. Silence and stone cold, cannot be trusted with other women – you can feel it – self-important, lacks confidence in other areas (sex), he will leave you for ambition anyhow. Leave him behind. Fuck the divorce lawyer, schedule a moving co.”
The resumed inquest took place on 8 September 2015. The Coroner confirmed his rulings in relation to certain procedural matters and, following the consent that Mr Mueller had given, proceeded to deal with the inquest by summarising the important evidence that had been placed before him. In the course of this recitation of the evidence, the Coroner referred to the note and read out verbatim that part of Det. Insp. Sellar's statement that purported to summarise its contents: he did not read out the precise terms of the note. He then concluded his summary of the evidence and reached his findings. A verdict of Suicide was recorded.
In the days following the inquest a number of articles were published to the effect that Ms Putney had hanged herself believing that Mr Mueller had been having an affair. It is this summary of the evidence which forms the...
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