Regina v Inner London South District Coroner Ex Parte Douglas-Williams: CA 30 Jul 1998

A coroner had the right not to leave all possible verdicts to a jury, even including one possibly supported by the evidence, where the overwhelming evidence pointed one way, and possible confusion of jury might be caused by leaving all verdicts to them.
Lord Woolf said of exercising a judicial discretion: ‘When it comes to exercising this discretion I cannot suggest a better test for a court to apply when deciding whether it should give relief than that it should be ‘necessary or desirable to do so in the interest of justice’.’

Citations:

Times 04-Sep-1998, [1998] EWCA Civ 1343, [1999] 1 All ER 344

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

CitedRegina v Galbraith CCA 1981
Rejection of Submission of No Case to Answer
The defendant had faced a charge of affray. The court having rejected his submission of having no case to answer, he had made an exculpatory statement from the dock. He appealed against his conviction.
Held: Lord Lane LCJ said: ‘How then . .
See AlsoRegina v HM Coroner for Inner London South District, ex parte Douglas-Williams CA 29-Jan-1998
The deceased died in custody. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death. It was suggested that the coroner’s direction as to unlawful killing had been confusing, and that he was wrong not to leave open the possibility of a verdict of neglect. . .

Cited by:

CitedKhan, Regina (on the Application of) v HM Coroner for West Hertfordshire and Another Admn 7-Mar-2002
The deceased died in police custody. The coroner refused to leave to the jury possible verdicts of unlawful killing, or death contributed to by neglect, or breach of his right to life. He adjourned the hearing to allow this challenge.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Coroners

Updated: 23 November 2022; Ref: scu.144822