Shortly before the UK’s coronavirus ‘lockdown’ was announced by the Prime Minister, I spoke to one of my clients, Rebecca (not her real name) about an upcoming court hearing in her case. At the time, the guidance by HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) was that hearings should continue as normal but the situation was changing every day, with increasing numbers of confirmed cases of the virus.
I suggested to Rebecca that we could ask the court to hold the hearing by videoconference or telephone in the event that it became impossible for everyone involved to attend in person. It was to be a preliminary hearing, and I thought it would be feasible – although not ideal – for the hearing to proceed ‘remotely’ so that we could try our best to make progress with the case.
Rebecca is the mother of a young woman who died in the care of the state. Her case is the inquest into her daughter’s death, to be heard in a Coroner’s Court. I call it ‘her case’, but of course these are court proceedings which no parent ever wishes or expects to experience and which no family ever chooses to be involved in. Hearing evidence about how a loved one died, as well as about how different decisions or actions may have prevented their death, can be unbearably painful.
