INQUEST No More Deaths campaign

After years working with families and lawyers in monitoring inquests into state-related deaths, INQUEST is calling on the Government to set up a National Oversight Mechanism. This would be an independent public body to oversee the actions taken by state agencies in response to inquest findings and recommendations.

INQUEST is the only charity providing expertise on state-related deaths such as those that happen in police and prison custody, immigration detention and mental health settings. They also include deaths involving multi-agency failings or where there are wider issues about state and corporate accountability.

Leigh Day is proud to support INQUEST’s No More Deaths campaign. The law firm has one of the leading human rights departments in the country, with a dedicated team of lawyers committed to providing legal representation to families in inquest proceedings into the state-related death of a loved one.  

The human rights team has expanded to Leigh Day’s Liverpool office, meaning we are now able to represent bereaved families in these kinds of cases in the north through legal aid funding.  

We deal with complex, challenging cases which may engage Article 2 (the right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). We work to ensure the Coroner conducts a full and rigorous investigation into how the death occurred and, where appropriate, a broader investigation into the circumstances of the death, including state failures.  We work to ensure that the family’s concerns are kept front and centre. 

In our experience, bereaved families are often left with many questions surrounding the death of their loved one.  

Leigh Day believes that after an often long, emotional process, the family must be able to move forward with confidence that change will be made.  

We understand that families will often engage in the Inquest process, not only to hear answers to questions around their loved one’s death, but also to ensure the prevention of future deaths. 

Leigh Day stands with INQUEST in its campaign to call for the creation of an independent body that would be responsible for collating, analysing and following-up on recommendations from four processes that can follow deaths:  

• Investigations 
• Inquests 
• Public Inquiries
• Official reviews

Through its inquest work, Leigh Day sees a consistent pattern of repeat failures of state bodies and multi-agencies that contribute to many preventable deaths.  

Following the inquest, often those responsible for those failures are not held accountable for properly considering and acting upon the potentially life-saving recommendations made by the Coroner, or internal reports/reviews.  

All too often, recommendations by the Coroner or the reports and reviews are ignored because at present, no one is responsible for checking whether they have been acted upon. This results in a lack of meaningful institutional change, and Leigh Day wants better for bereaved families.  

For those interested in finding about more about Inquest’s No More Deaths campaign, please find more information here.