'Cause of Wendover man’s death covered up by Buckinghamshire coroner'

The cause of a Wendover man’s death has been covered up by the Buckinghamshire coroner, I am sad to report.

On April 22, Graham Robert Whelan died aged just 38 and an inquest was scheduled to investigate his death.

An inquest is opened whenever a death is suspected to be either unnatural or unexplained. The purpose of the inquest is to determine who the deceased was, when they died, where they died and, crucially, how they died. It is held in public and anyone is entitled to attend.

So far, so familiar, you may think. But you may be surprised to hear the inquest into the death of Mr Whelan was concluded behind closed doors. It was dealt with by a relatively new invention of parliament known as an ‘inquest in writing’.

This was introduced in June 2022 and allows a coroner to conclude a “non-contentious” inquest without a public hearing. Official guidance says the benefit of holding an inquest in private is to avoid a stressful hearing for the family of the deceased and also to save witnesses the stress and inconvenience of having to give oral evidence.

READ MORE: Inquest of much-loved Wycombe fan Aaron Lockyer takes place

I suppose decisions on paper may also be more time-efficient and Parliament may have had half an eye on the soaring backlog at the time. Although they are supposed to conclude within six months, the number of inquests lasting more than two years in England and Wales quadrupled from 378 in 2017 to 1,760 in 2022. Official figures show that nearly 5,000 families have had to wait at least 12 months for an inquest to be held.

Against this backdrop, the decision to hold non-contentious inquests ‘in writing’ seems reasonable enough. Yet, the move was opposed by media organisations such as the Chartered Institute of Journalists at the time.

Writing to Parliament in October 2021, it said: “The Government and Chief Coroner have discussed the advantages of ‘documentary inquests’ into non-contentious deaths where witnesses are not required to attend and give oral evidence.

“However, the Institute is reminded that the notorious Dr Harold Shipman case, and others, have highlighted how seemingly non-contentious deaths in the community can become matters of great public interest when journalists and members of the public have access to information and can ask important questions.”

It is in that spirit that at the start of last month, I contacted the Buckinghamshire Coroner’s office and asked for a copy of the coroner’s ruling on ‘how’ Mr Whelan died.

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Regular readers of the Bucks Free Press will be aware that journalists from this paper often report on inquests to act as the eyes and ears of the public.

The purpose of journalists reporting on inquests is to make sure the public understands the reasons why someone has died; to make sure deaths are not kept secret; to draw attention to circumstances which may lead to more deaths or injuries and to prevent this from happening; and to clear up any rumours or suspicion about the death.

But Buckinghamshire’s senior coroner believes that - in the case of Mr Whelan - the public does not need to know how this young man died. He told me there was “no broader learning or public health benefit that would merit publicity in this case” and dismissed my request.

Maybe the coroner is right that this county is better off not knowing about how one of its residents died. Perhaps we should just take his word for it. On the other hand, who is he to make that decision? Surely that is a matter for us, the taxpaying public who funds the coroner's service, to decide.