I was at West Yorkshire Coroners Court in Bradford today for the first day of the final hearing touching on the death of Myles Scriven. The inquest is being heard by Assistant Coroner Crispin Oliver.

Myles was 31 when he died in April 2023 at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, which is run by the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.

Myles lived in Dalton in Huddersfield with his mum Jane, his stepfather Ashley and his brother, James. His uncles, Paul and David, are representing the family in court and gave evidence to the coroner on the first day.

The coroner started by introducing himself before introducing who was present in court so everyone was aware.

In addition to Paul and David representing Myles’ family, Mr David Birch from Weightmans Solicitors represents Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, Ms Virginia Hayton of Deans Court Chambers represents Dr Andrew Hardy, a respiratory consultant at Calderdale and Huddersfield, and Mr Sydney Chawatama of 1 Crown Office Row for Dalton Surgery (Myles’s GP Practice).

There were a number of staff from the NHS Trust in court and two members of the press (myself and a reporter from Yorkshire Live).

The coroner said that he would outline his involvement in the case so far. The case had previously been assigned to Coroner Dominic Bell but it was reallocated to him last year when Dr Bell ceased to do inquests.

The coroner said he’d conducted a Pre Inquest Review hearing on 24 November at which he’d set out the scope and issues broadly, which was whether Myles’s death from natural causes was rendered unnatural by virtue of factors broadly as per the case of Touche. He said he would come onto the evidence in that regard in due course.

The coroner told the court Myles was born in September 1991 and that his GP notes recorded that he had hyperactivity disorder, learning disability and autistic spectrum disorder.

The coroner outlined Myles had suffered a DVT in August 2022. He said that the focus of the inquest would be the events that followed from August 2022 until Myles’s tragic death on 16 April 2023 at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

The coroner said he’d allowed expansive time estimate to accommodate the fact that people would want to clarify a number of points of evidence with the various professionals in this case, including the experts instructed by Dr Bell and himself over the course of the inquest.

Myles’s inquest is being broken into two parts. The first part takes place every day this week, the second part is taking place in June. The coroner said he’d held PIRs in January and March and he wished to clarify one or two points on evidence that had occurred since the last one.

The coroner told the court that one of the three independent court appointed experts, Professor Hunt, would be giving evidence by video link from the United States. He said for the avoidance of doubt he had checked with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s Taking Evidence from Overseas Unit about the process. The UK has a standing arrangement with the US that no permission is needed from them and therefore it will not be an issue. The coroner then read an email from a Legal Services Officer at the FCDO onto the record.

He said he had approved Amanda Mckie [Matron Lead for Learning Disabilities in the Calderdale and Huddersfield Trust] to give evidence on 23 June, dealing with an enquiry he made last week.

The coroner also told the court that Paul and David had no difficulty with Dr Yousab’s evidence reverting to Rule 23 [that means it is read onto the record in their absence as no one has questions for them]. Everyone was content with that suggestion.

The coroner outlined the bundles at the witness table which included the disclosure bundle and a folder of medical records. The coroner said that they were supposed to rely on electronic hardware and wizardry but its not always trustworthy so he had paper copies available for people to use.

The coroner explained it was usually his practice to take a break mid morning and mid afternoon and for the lunch break to be between 45 and 60 minutes long.

The coroner outlined the order of witnesses for the day.

He reminded himself that under Section 5 of the Coroners and Justice Act he was tasked with identifying the deceased person and then he had to go on to make findings of fact and come to a conclusion with regard to where, when and how it is that Myles came by his death.

He said with that in mind, Myles was born in Huddersfield on 21 September 1991 and it was not controversial that he died at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary at 05:39 on 16 April 2023. The coroner said Myles’s mother, Jane, had confirmed his identity.

“So we’ve established who the deceased person is, when and where he came by his death. As is so often the case, it is how the deceased person came by his or her death that occupies the greatest attention in the inquest”. Coroner

The coroner said that the first port of call in establishing that is the postmortem report provided by Dr Knight Consultant Pathologist after an examination on 26 April 2023.

The medical cause of death was given as 1a pulmonary thromboembolism. Comments included that examination showed pulmonary thromboembolism and acute right sided heart strain. The report concluded it was a death by natural causes, there were no other indications of cause of death.

The coroner said he had explained in the PIR where he set the scope of the inquest on 21 November, that it was plain that “this seems to be a case where it is available to explore whether or not that natural death was made unnatural by features of the treatment he received in the last months of his life”.

The coroner checked all interested persons representatives were with him so far, they were, there was no clarification needed. Next the coroner invited Paul Scriven to come forward to give his evidence.