Inquests and Public Inquiries

Daniel Machover, Kate Maynard, Beth Handley, Anna Mazzola and Anna Crawford are experts in inquest law. We specialise in advising and representing bereaved families regarding deaths in police custody (or at the hands of the police such as police shootings), deaths in prison (including homicide by third parties) and deaths in hospital (patients detained under the Mental Health Act).

We provide a comprehensive service from the point of instruction, throughout the inquiry and inquest process. From our considerable experience, we are able to act decisively and robustly to ensure that all relevant evidence is secured, including instructing pathologists and other experts where relevant, involving other state agencies if appropriate, and invoking complaints procedures where necessary.

We are also specialists in public law and human rights law and civil litigation against public bodies. We have experience of challenging coroners’ decisions in the High Court, and will expertly assist families to pursue other public law or private law remedies to obtain redress, where appropriate.

We use our range of expertise and experience to empower families and maximise their involvement in getting to the truth of what happened, to ensure that an effective and thorough investigation takes place, to hold the individuals and institutions involved accountable for their conduct, and to ensure that lessons are learned so that deaths in similar circumstances can be avoided.

We are currently working on high profile deaths in custody across the country, including in at HMP Rye Hill,  HMP Belmarsh and HMP Leeds.  We act in the cases of  the police shooting of Azelle Rodney in north London in April 2005  and the death.   of Sean Rigg in Brixton police station in August 2008 http.

We are also instructed by families (and victims) of near-deaths in custody, to achieve a thorough and independent investigation of the circumstances leading to the life threatening event, so that failings can be identified and those responsible are held accountable. These are usually cases where there has been a suicide attempt or attempted murder, and where the survivor has received life threatening injuries with serious and persisting disablement.

We are members of Inquest Lawyers Group and work with the specialist organisation INQUEST, which since 1981 has provided help to families, lobbied for improvements to prevent deaths in custody and to improve the inquest system. Daniel Machover is currently the chair of INQUEST.