The court was asked to order a public enquiry into an attempted suicide in prison. Waller LJ was anxious about the task of defining suicide and near suicide: ‘I am clear that the simple fact of a death or serious injury of a person in custody gives rise to an obligation on the State to conduct the enhanced type of investigation. The extent of the investigation will depend on the circumstances . . As regards the nature of the investigation it seems to me that a death or near death in custody ipso facto means that the State must commence an investigation by a person independent of those implicated in the facts. The extent to which there must then be some further inquiry in the nature of a public hearing in which the next of kin or injured person can play a part will depend on the circumstances. In the case of a death there will be an inquest, and the coroner may have to decide whether the circumstances are such as to require something [further]. In cases of serious injury the nature of the further inquiry necessary will depend on the facts as discovered by the independent investigator.’
Judges:
Waller LJ, Maurice Kay LJ, Wilson LJ
Citations:
[2007] EWCA Civ 767, [2008] 1 WLR 158, [2007] Inquest LR 202, [2007] HRLR 39, [2007] ACD 95
Links:
Statutes:
European Convention on Human Rights 2
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – JL, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department Admn 1-Nov-2006
Duty to investigate attempted suicide in prison. . .
Cited by:
Appeal from – JL, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Justice; Regina (L (A Patient)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department HL 26-Nov-2008
The prisoner was left with serious injury after attempting suicide in prison. He said that there was a human rights duty to hold an investigation into the circumstances leading up to this.
Held: There existed a similar duty to hold an enhanced . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Prisons, Human Rights, Coroners
Updated: 31 October 2022; Ref: scu.258363