Letter from Mr Andrew Dismore MP, Chairman,
Joint Committee on Human Rights (P 64)
My Committee has noted with interest the inquiry
which you are currently conducting into the application of the
House's sub judice rule to coroners' courts, following
up your report at the end of the last Parliament into the rule
more generally, and it welcomes your decision to consider this
matter.
The application of the sub judice rule
to coroners' courts has not caused my Committee any particular
difficulties in the way we operate, to a large extent because
our terms of reference preclude us from giving consideration to
individual cases. Nevertheless, on the understanding that one
of the questions you are considering is the application of the
rule during lengthy adjournments of inquests, we would like to
draw to your attention a related human rights concern which has
arisen for us as a result of such delays.
In the previous JCHR's report into deaths in
custody (Third Report of Session 2004-05, Deaths in Custody,
HL Paper 15-I, HC 137-I), that Committee considered the extent
to which the inquest system was capable of meeting the procedural
obligation on the Government, under Article 2 (Right to life)
of the European Convention on Human Rights as amplified by the
case-law of the European Court, to undertake an effective investigation
into the circumstances of deaths in which agents of the state
may be implicated. One of the criteria established by the European
Court in assessing the effectiveness of any investigative mechanism
is that it must be sufficiently prompt and must proceed with reasonable
expedition (Jordan v UK (2003) 37 EHRR 2). In paragraph
304 of the Report cited above, the JCHR concluded that "current
delays may in some instances lead to breaches of Article 2"
and called for reviews of the coronial system to address delays
in the system. When the Government publishes its draft Coroners
Bill later this spring we will give consideration to whether its
provisions meet this and other concerns about the effectiveness
of inquests when Article 2 rights are engaged.
I hope that this information may be of interest
to you.
April 2006
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