An inquest is due to open today (April 14) for Soham killer Ian Huntley, who died after being attacked in prison. Huntley, who was serving a life sentence for the 2002 murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, died in hospital on March 7.
The 52-year-old was allegedly attacked in a workshop at HMP Frankland in Durham on February 26. Anthony Russell, 43, has been charged with murdering the former school caretaker.
The hearing is listed by a coroner and will start in Crook, Co Durham, and will be heard by County Durham and Darlington senior coroner Jeremy Chipperfield.
What is an inquest?
Inquests are held to establish the circumstances in which someone came by their death. They are a factfinding mission to establish who a person was, as well as when, where and how they died so that their death can be registered.
They are often held when a death is considered unnatural, especially in the case of Huntley whose death came while he was serving time in prison.
If an attending doctor cannot immediately certify that the death is obviously natural and/or expected it must be referred to the Coroner.
What will the inquest explore?
An inquest is held in open court, meaning the press and public can attend. While it is a formal process, it is not a criminal case, there is no prosecution and defence and no blame will be attributed.
The coroner decides who to call as a witness and will likely request a statement from family members, doctors and others who may have relevant information, such as prison guards. The coroner may call that person as a witness at the inquest.
It will explore the circumstances leading up to Huntley’s death and a corner will eventually reach a conclusion at the end of the inquest. That will be one of the following:
• Natural causes
• Accident or misadventure
• Suicide
• Narrative, which enables the Coroner to describe briefly the circumstances by which the death came about
• Unlawful killing (or lawful killing)
• Alcohol
• Drug related
• Industrial Disease
• Road Traffic Collision
• Neglect (usually contributing to another conclusion, eg natural causes)
• Open, meaning that there is insufficient evidence to decide how the death came about – the case is left open in case further evidence appears.
What will be heard today?
The hearing today will be a brief one. The coroner will formally open the inquest and establish the basic facts, such as Huntley’s name, date of birth, where he died and there may be a brief description of the preliminary cause of death.
However, as there is an ongoing criminal investigation, the inquest will be adjourned until that has been resolved as takes precedence over the coroner’s inquest which is put on hold in the meantime.
What will happen in the future?
Once the criminal investigation ends, the coroner will set a date for a full inquest to be heard. Then, the court will hear evidence, including the result of a post mortem examination to establish the cause of death.
The coroner will then deliver their verdict once all the evidence has been heard. Following the Inquest, the coroner can write a report in cases where the evidence suggests that further avoidable deaths could occur.
This is done if, in the coroner’s opinion, preventative action should be taken. The report will be sent to the person or authority which may have the power to take the appropriate steps to reduce the risk and they have a mandatory duty to reply within 56 days.
Examples might be where several deaths have occurred at a notorious accident spot, or where some existing system or service (local authority, medical) has broken down in some way.
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