When will an inquest be held?

If the Coroner’s initial enquiries don’t reveal the cause of death or if it seems the cause may be unnatural or violent, then an inquest will be held.

The Coroner may order that a post-mortem be carried out to assist with their initial enquiries or once it appears an inquest will be required in order to help determine the cause of death.

If a post-mortem confirms that a person died of natural causes and there are no other concerns about the death then the Coroner may not need to carry out an inquest. However, an inquest is always required if the person died in state care or custody, even if the death was natural and the cause is known.

If you have information about how a death occurred then you should tell a coroner’s officer.