Fern Foster Inquest – Coroner’s opening and family’s pen portrait

Day one of Fern’s inquest was opened just after 10am at Beaconsfield Coroners Court by Senior Coroner Crispin Butler. There are seven interested person’s. Fern’s family are represented by Sam Jacobs, instructed by Merry Varney and Caleb Bawdon of Leigh Day and Fern’s partner Max Newman is represented by Freddy Powell instructed by Charlotte Haworth […]

Fern Foster

Fern was a quiet, thoughtful, introverted and unassuming individual who was never happier than when she was curled up with a book. Fern loved reading. She found peace and comfort in character’s lives, walking in their shoes, living in other fantasy universes. Fern was an excellent student and loved literature so much her dream was […]

Preventing Future Deaths 2023: Liam Bentley, Oleg Khala and Philip Malone

There were 16 PFDs following conclusions of inquests relating to autistic people in 2023, and I’ve reviewed some here and others here. This is the next three deaths, with one further post to follow. Liam Bentley was 25 when he died in June 2022. The Senior Coroner for Mid Kent and Medway, Patricia Harding, who […]

Preventing Future Deaths: Lucy Walles, Ryan Evans and Benn Curran-Nicholls

Previous posts as follows: Post 1: Lugh Baker and David Hemmings Post 2: Owen Garnett, Steven Duquemin and Matthew Dale Post 3: Claire Twinn, Mark McKessy and Shane West This is the final post reviewing 2023 Prevention of Future Death Reports into people with a learning disability (with/without autism). At some stage I will review […]

Preventing Future Deaths: Claire Twinn, Mark McKessy and Shane West

Continuing with the exploration of Prevention of Future Death reports issued in 2023 for learning disabled and/or autistic people, today I cover three more reports relating to learning disabled people. You can find the first post here and the second here. Claire Twinn Claire was 47 when she died in December 2022. She had Downs […]

Preventing Future Deaths: Owen Garnett, Steven Duquemin and Matthew Dale

This is my second post about Prevention of Future Death reports published in 2023 relating to learning disabled and autistic people. You can read the first one, which includes an explanation of what PFDs are here. In this post I’ll cover the PFDs issued following the deaths of Owen Garnett, Steven Duquemin and Matthew Dale […]

Preventing Future Deaths: Lugh Baker and David Hemmings

What is a Prevention of Future Deaths report? Coroners have a duty to take action, when they become aware of circumstances during the course of their investigation that they consider creates a risk of deaths occurring. The duty is quite broad and is not restricted to matters revealed in evidence at the inquest. Paragraph 7 […]