Obtaining documents after the Inquest

Requesting a copy of the Record of Inquest

The Record of Inquest will be made available to all Interested Persons by the Coroners Officer free of charge.  Please contact the relevant Coroners Officer to request a copy.   

The Coroner will generally direct that the jury members' signatures are redacted from any copy that is sent out from the office, however the original can be viewed by appointment. 

Other persons may make an application for a copy of a Record of Inquest by conacting administrative staff here hm.coroner@westsussex.gov.uk

Requesting a copy of other inquest documents and recordings

A Coroner may provide any document or a copy of any document, including a recording of an Inquest, to any person who ‘in the opinion of the coroner is a proper person to have possession of it’ (see Reg.27(2)). 

Although coroners have a judicial discretion as to who to allow to have copy documents, members of the media (who show identification where requested) will normally be considered proper persons for these purposes.  However in respect of all requests made the Coroner needs to be satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for disclosure and so will usually consider:

• the identity and role of the person requesting the document
• the reason for the request
• the public interest
• any sensitivities of the particular document evidence requested
• the need for any editing or redaction of the document, and 
• any other relevant factors

Applications for copies of documents after the conclusion of an inquest hearing may be made to the Coroner concerned at this address hm.coroner@westsussex.gov.uk or the recording of an inquest may be requested by completing our online form.

Transcripts  

Generally transcripts of inquest proceedings will not be produced by the court.  If you have obtained a recording and chosen to produce a transcript from it for your own use this must not be further published or distributed without the coroner’s permission,  nor should it be held out to be an accurate transcript unless and until it has been provided to the coroner and the coroner has confirmed its accuracy. 

A transcript of inquest proceedings must always be shown to the coroner and approved before being used for the purpose of any further legal proceedings.