Mia’s Inquest – Azri Cairns, The Children’s Trust

Earlier on Day 1 the coroner had read onto the record the statement of Emma Dickerson, a Children’s Support Assistant at The Children’s Trust. After the last in-person witness the coroner said that she would deal with some other matters. C: I know there’s a number of other statements, we have the CQC Report, but […]

Mia’s Inquest – Claire Shiels, The Children’s Trust

The final witness to give live evidence on Day 1 of Mia’s inquest was Ms Claire Shiels. She gave an affirmation and the coroner asked who she is. CS: Claire Shiels, I’m Head of Nursing at The Children’s Trust and also registered manager for regulatory purposes. I started there in 2019, been there 4.5 years, […]

Mia’s Inquest: Laura Yapichi, Children’s Trust

After reading Emma Dickerson’s statement, the Coroner called Laura Yapici to the stand. She gave an affirmation. The coroner thanked her for attending and checks how to pronounce her name. She asks Ms Yapichi to explain who she is and her involvement with Mia. LY: I was a Child Support Assistant with The Children’s Trust. […]

Mia’s Inquest – Emma Dickerson, The Children’s Trust

After lunch on Day 1 the Coroner said that it may be useful, before she called Laura Yapichi to give her evidence, for her to read in part the statement of Emma Dickerson. Emma Dickerson was not in court to give live evidence, as all parties agreed to her evidence, so parts of her statement […]

Mia’s Inquest – Dr John O’Connell, The Children’s Trust

The coroner called Dr John O’Connell to the stand after the mid morning break and he swore an oath. The coroner asked him to explain who he was and his qualifications. He told the court he was a consultant paediatrician. He had started as a general paediatrician, had worked for the NHS most of his […]

Mia’s inquest – Louise Richer, Bracknell Forest

The court heard from four witnesses in person on Day 1 of Mia’s inquest, on Tuesday 30 July. The first witness was Lou Richer. She told the court that she is the Head of Children’s Specialist Safeguarding for Bracknell Forest Council and that she’d worked in the Specialist Support Service for 10.5 years and known […]

Mia’s Inquest – Coroner’s opening and post mortem evidence

I’ve been reporting from coroner’s courts for almost a decade now, and it is very rare to see more than a couple of journalists in attendance. Walking into Surrey Coroner’s Court yesterday there were lots of people, including numerous members of the media. However, when I was asked to sign the media list, I was […]

Fern Foster – After the inquest

Three months ago the Senior Coroner for Buckinghamshire, Crispin Butler, concluded the inquest into the death of Fern Foster (almost concluded, at that point he was still to make a ruling on Prevention of Future Death matters**). You can find links to read my introduction to Fern, my coverage of her inquest and the coroner’s […]

Evidencing indifference, beyond Laughing Boy

Earlier today I published a blog post I wrote trying to capture the experience of attending Laughing Boy, without giving away too many spoilers. This post does not have that luxury because I want to talk about the wider context of Connor’s death, and JusticeforLB’s campaign for justice that followed it. The horror of what […]