Inquest (charity)

Inquest was founded in 1981 at a time of dissatisfaction with procedures for dealing with deaths in custody and at the hands of the police, and the failure of the official response to these deaths, in particular the deaths of Jimmy Kelly and Blair Peach.[11][2] Both men died after being assaulted by police officers, and both of the inquests set up following their deaths denied their families access to relevant information.[12][13][14]

Following a sustained campaign by Inquest, Peach's family and supporters the internal investigation of the Metropolitan Police (known as the Cass Report) was published. This report found that Blair Peach had been killed by a police officer, and then other officers lied in order to prevent this being made public.[15][16]

Inquest's decades of work to improve the rights of bereaved people at inquests into contentious deaths led to the use of narrative conclusions at inquests and greater use of coroners’ reports to prevent future deaths. They used Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights to secure more wide-ranging inquests into deaths involving state bodies.[17]

The organisation has successfully campaigned for reforms including: the establishment of independent investigations following deaths in police custody by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and prisons by Prisons and Probation Ombudsman in 2004, and the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter Act, which allows for companies and organisations to be held legally responsible for certain deaths.[17] Inquest lobbied for, influenced and informed the Coroners and Justice Act 2009,[18][19] and led the successful campaign to safeguard the post of the first Chief Coroner for England and Wales.[20][21][22]

Inquest has lobbied for, advised on and provided expert evidence in a number of significant government reviews including the Corston Report[23]  into vulnerable women in prison; the Harris Review on self-inflicted deaths of young people in prison;[24] and the cross-government  Care Quality Commission review into the investigation of NHS deaths,[25] among many others.[26]

In 2015 it was announced by Theresa May, then the Home Secretary, that Inquest's director Deborah Coles would be a special adviser to Dame Elish Angiolini QC who was chairing the Independent Review Into Deaths and Serious Incidents in Police Custody,[27] and Inquest would be involved in enabling bereaved families to give evidence to the inquiry.[28][29] In October 2017 the report was published and made a range of recommendations which reflected the long-running work and aims of Inquest.[30][31]

In 2016 Inquest used Freedom of Information requests to compile a report finding that at least nine young people had died since 2010 while in-patients in mental health units, and called for such deaths to be statutorily notified and investigated.[32]

Inquest supported families and their lawyers through the historic new Hillsborough inquests in 2016, which concluded with an unlawful killing finding for the first time and exonerated both survivors and the 96 people who died. They were then involved in a review on the experiences of Hillsborough families,[33] published in October 2017 and chaired by Bishop James Jones. This review backed the proposed Hillsborough Law,[34] formally titled The Public Authority (Accountability) Bill, which was first read in Parliament in March 2017 by Andy Burnham MP and received cross-party support.[35] The bill would increase the accountability of public bodies and ensure bereaved families had equal legal representation at an inquest where state bodies are represented. Due to the 2017 UK General Election the bill dropped off the parliamentary calendar, but lawyers, MPs, Hillsborough families and Inquest are campaigning for it to be brought through Parliament again and implemented.[36]

In 2009 Inquest won the Longford Prize, an annual award in the field of social or penal reform. The judges commended Inquest's "remarkable perseverance, personal commitment and courage in an area too often under-investigated by the public authorities, and especially for its support for the families of those who have taken their own lives while in the care of the state".[37]

Inquest has twice received the Liberty Human Rights Award in 2015 for their work uncovering serious human rights abuses of children in custody[38] and in 2016 for their work with the family of Connor Sparrowhawk[39] and Bindmans Solicitors to improve the standard of care provided for people with mental health and learning disabilities.[40]