How can I find out if an inquest has been held?

[DebbieFiderer]

A few months ago, someone I had contact with in a professional capacity sadly passed away in circumstances which make it a coroner's case. Because of my connection to the person there is a chance I might be asked to give evidence at the inquest, if they in fact call any witnesses (I understand that they don't always), but so far I haven't heard anything about it. I was doing some googling earlier and I saw that they are normally held within about 6 months. I found a list of upcoming inquests, this one wasn't on it, but I couldn't find any way to look at completed inquests. Does anyone know if there is a way of finding out if it has been held already? It would be good to know so that I can put it behind me to some extent.

News articles?

Google the deceased's name and the coroners office, it may bring up previous notices.

Alternatively, call the coroner and their staff may be able to tell you

Thankfully the case doesn't appear to have caught the attention of the press, I follow the local site on Facebook and they would definitely have reported it if they had come across it, which is one thing that makes me think an inquest hasn't been held yet (although they probably don't have the staffing levels to just monitor the coroner's court on the off chance something juicy comes up). Nothing showing from a Google search either.

The Coroner’s Officer should be able to tell you if you know their name and date of death.
If the Coroner wanted to hear from you, they probably would have been in touch for a statement - they tend to do this first rather than just calling people as witnesses

I've made a statement, I was asked for one by work as part of their investigation, which I believe was also used to prepare a file for the coroner. So it may be that they don't need to speak to me directly but it would just be good to know for sure. I might try calling them tomorrow

A friend of mine is still awaiting an inquest 13 months after her death. Fortunately her coroner lists all past, upcoming and pending cases.

Just give the coroner's office a call or email.

Oh my goodness, that's an awfully long time to wait, it must be very difficult to have that hanging over you for so long. Without wanting to pry or go into too many details, is it a particularly complex case or is it just due to a backlog?

It can be easily 12 - 18 months in our area OP. The coroner’s officer will be able to tell you if there is a date scheduled. You can usually get in touch with the coroner’s officer by calling your local police switchboard.

And yes, the local press can’t often attend all inquests these days but we certainly wouldn’t describe a death as ‘juicy’.

Sorry, not the best phrasing, maybe newsworthy would be better.

But it sounds like it could be a while. I'll try and put it to one side for the time being.

Yes it is quite a complex case in my friends case - she was complex in life too! If they have to get lots of people lined up to give evidence that can muddle the timescales up too.