Maguire, R (on the application of) v His Majesty's Senior Coroner for Blackpool & Fylde & Anor [2023] UKSC 20 (21 June 2023)
Citation:Maguire, R (on the application of) v His Majesty's Senior Coroner for Blackpool & Fylde & Anor [2023] UKSC 20 (21 June 2023)
Rule of thumb:If a person is found dead, when you can demand that there is a full legal enquiry in Court into the circumstances of the death? If you can prove that there is reasonable suspicion of foul-play/criminal activity, then a full inquiry into the death in Court can be demanded, however, if you cannot point to any clear substantive of why there was reasonable suspicion of criminal behaviour, then there is no right to demand an enquiry.
Background facts:The facts of this case were that Maguire was living in a secure sheltered housing facility, had Down’s Syndrome, and he also had mental health psychiatric difficulties. Maguire faced health difficulties with his breathing and passing out. The facility called for a Doctor who advised that it would be in Maguire’s best interests to be taken into hospital. Maguire however refused to take the Doctor’s advice and wanted to stay there. The Doctor stated that if Maguire was determined to stay and ignore the advice then he would not call for Maguire to be sectioned and seized by the Police to be taken into hospital. Maguire later collapsed again and died. The Coroner ruled that Maguire had major kidney problems and these were failing which led to him collapsing and dying. The Coroner ruled that there were no suspicious circumstances and no need for a full enquiry into how he died.
Parties argued:Magure’s family argued that there should be a formal Court inquiry into his death, as they wanted to argue that he was killed through negligence, wanted the doctor & staff at the home to answer for their handling of the matter under oath, and consider whether they had a loss of society claim for negligence by the care-home & doctor over this. The Coroner argued that the circumstances of the death of Mr Maguire did not meet the test of ‘reasonable suspicion’ of criminal behaviour, so the test was not met for an inquiry into the death circumstances.
Court held:The Court ruled that the test of reasonably suspicious circumstances surrounding a death had been correctly applied by the coroner in this case, and did not apply. There was no criminal law case of a person being prosecuted for behaving in this manner, so the Court therefore refused to order there to be a formal Court inquiry into the full circumstances of Maguire’s death.
Ratio-decidendi:
‘Article 2 provides, so far as is relevant, that “Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law”. It is established law that this provision has a substantive aspect, governing the ways in which the state should act to protect life, and a procedural aspect, which imposes an obligation on the state to provide for investigation as to whether a death may have resulted from a breach of the substantive obligations imposed by article 2. The precise content of the substantive obligations and of the procedural obligation under article 2 varies depending on the circumstances of a particular case. In this appeal, both the substantive aspect and the procedural aspect of article 2 are in issue. Section 1 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (“the 2009 Act”) provides that where a senior coroner has reason to suspect that a deceased person whose body is within their area died a violent or unnatural death, the cause of death is unknown or the deceased died while in custody or otherwise in state detention, the coroner must conduct an investigation into the person’s death… they do not illuminate how, when or where Jackie came by her death nor even in what circumstances she came by her death”. They do not indicate that there was an arguable breach of either the systems duty or the operational duty in Jackie’s case, so as to support the submission that the enhanced procedural obligation was applicable’, Lord Sales at 2-3 & 210.
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.