Coroner Service

Duties of a coroner

Emma Whitting

The duties are to:

  • investigate circumstances of deaths if violent, unnatural or unknown cause
  • decide whether a Post Mortem examination is necessary
  • hold an inquest and notify the Registrar of Deaths of the findings

Senior Coroner for the Bedfordshire and Luton area

The Senior Coroner for the Bedfordshire and Luton area is Emma Whitting.

Assistant Coroners for the Bedfordshire and Luton area

The Assistant Coroners are:

  • Dr Sean Cummings
  • Aliya Rashid
  • Tom Stoate
  • Amy Street

Contact us

Telephone: 0300 300 8383
Email: coroner.service@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk

Emergency out of hours contact

Telephone: 07388 372280

Opening hours

Office: 8am until 4pm, Monday to Friday 
Court: 9:15am until 4:30pm, Tuesday to Thursday 

Where we are based

The Bedfordshire and Luton Coroner Service is located at:

The Court House
Woburn Street
Ampthill
Bedfordshire
MK45 2HX

The Bedfordshire and Luton Coroner Service

You can view the current inquests due to be held by the Bedfordshire and Luton Coroner Service in the table below. 

Beneath the inquest information, you can find out more about our service, our duties and who the coroner is. In addition, you will find information on bereavement support and support with deaths in custody.

How to search for information

You will need to add in a date range to view inquests. For example, the enquiry from date could be today's date and the enquiry to date could be 31/12/2023. Once you do that, you can view inquests in that date range. You can then also search by surname. 

At the bottom of this page there is a feedback button. Please use this if you feel the information appearing is incorrect.

Clear filters
Date Time Inquest Name Age and place of death Coroner
04-10-2023 10:00 Paper Inquest Peter George BARBER 87 years, Luton Sean CUMMINGS
05-10-2023 10:00 Fast track hearing Margaret Elizabeth ETCHES 88 years, Bedford Emma WHITTING
05-10-2023 14:00 Case Inquest Hearing Haroon ARMANI 18 years, Bedford Emma WHITTING
05-10-2023 15:30 Police Update Hearing Vivienne Mary OKOROAFOR 79 years, Cambridge Emma WHITTING
10-10-2023 10:00 Fast track hearing Hazel Margaret GOOKEY 86 years, Luton Aliya RASHID
10-10-2023 11:00 Fast track hearing Vickie FENN 76 years, Cambridge Aliya RASHID
10-10-2023 12:00 Fast track hearing Alvin Robert HALSEY 85 years, Luton Emma WHITTING
10-10-2023 14:00 Case Inquest Hearing Tomasz KORNACKI 32 years, Bedford Aliya RASHID
10-10-2023 16:00 Fast track hearing Coral GILLILAND 68 years, Letchworth Garden City Aliya RASHID
11-10-2023 09:00 Inquest Opening Omar KHAN 38 years Emma WHITTING

Press attendance

Members of the press can attend inquests in person or via video link. Please email coroner.service@centralbedfordshire.gov.uk at least 24 hours in advance of the inquest you wish to attend.

A guide to coroner services

The Ministry of Justice has published its Guide to coroner services.

The guide provides bereaved people with an explanation of the coroner investigation and inquest process as well as links to other organisations that may also provide help and advice. Whilst the guide is focused on bereaved people, it will also be useful for others, including other interested persons and witnesses as well as members of the public who want to understand coroner processes.

There's lots of bereavement support available through many support agencies.

Contact an agency to talk about the support you need.

View bereavement support agencies

Support is available, for those affected by a death in custody, from the charity INQUEST.

INQUEST provides expertise on state-related deaths and their investigation to bereaved people, lawyers, advice and support agencies, the media and parliamentarians.

Its specialist casework includes deaths:

  • in police and prison custody
  • in immigration detention
  • in mental health settings
  • involving multi-agency failings or where wider issues of state and corporate accountability are in question

Visit INQUEST's website to find out how it can help

What a death in custody is

When a death happened in prison, police custody or other state detention, there must be an inquest. Other state detention can include being held under the Mental Health Act 1983.

In cases where the state or public body might have had obligations relating to the circumstances around a death, including where a person has died in police custody or in prison, the inquest may become what is known as an ‘Article 2’ inquest.

This refers to the state’s obligations to protect life under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The inquest process is likely to look and feel the same as other inquests, but the coroner or jury will be required to investigate more widely into some of the factual circumstances of the death.