Community directory

What is an inquest?

It is simply an inquiry to find out who has died, how, when and where they died and to provide any other information required by the registrar to register the death. An inquest will not decide whom, if anyone, is to blame for a death. Unlike any other court, it is the Coroner who calls for the evidence and asks questions first. It is an inquiry not a trial. The Coroner is expressly forbidden from inquiring into any other matter and framing the verdict in such a way as to appear to determine questions of civil liability or criminal liability on the part of named individuals.