| Coroners Court 09:16 - Mar 19 with 5218 views | Metallica_Hoop |
My Romanian mate has just been called up and was shitting himself as he thought he'd done something wrong.
He brought me the letter and I helpfully told him he was being deported... 
Anyway after I'd made my apologies, I explained to him what it was, I've done it 3 times magistrates and Old Bailey but I've never had a coroners court. I had a google which wasn't particuarly helpful.
Anyone had a Coroners? I wanted to tell him what to expect. |  |
| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
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| Coroners Court on 09:23 - Mar 19 with 3812 views | Northernr |
I used to cover Coroners back in the day. You don't get a jury very often, it usually means it's a death in police custody or a death at work caused by some negligence somewhere along the line. Jury is usually smaller than a criminal case too.
They'll sit there, witnesses will come up and lay out what they saw, facts of the case, whether there was any indication the geezer was feeling suicidal or not. They're not fun, the family is usuall sitting there front row, can be quite traumatic and tense.
Then they'll be invited to come up with a cause of death from natural causes, an accident, a suicide, a lawful killing, an unlawful killing or an industrial disease. Chances are if a jury is involved they're basically going to be asked to decide between an accident or unlawful killing if it's not a suicide.
You can also record something called a narrative verdict. Watch the journos role their eyes in the press gallery if you go for that. It's basically a long story of what happened without a real set conclusion. It's a cop out. |  | | |
| Coroners Court on 09:27 - Mar 19 with 3790 views | Metallica_Hoop |
| Coroners Court on 09:23 - Mar 19 by Northernr |
I used to cover Coroners back in the day. You don't get a jury very often, it usually means it's a death in police custody or a death at work caused by some negligence somewhere along the line. Jury is usually smaller than a criminal case too.
They'll sit there, witnesses will come up and lay out what they saw, facts of the case, whether there was any indication the geezer was feeling suicidal or not. They're not fun, the family is usuall sitting there front row, can be quite traumatic and tense.
Then they'll be invited to come up with a cause of death from natural causes, an accident, a suicide, a lawful killing, an unlawful killing or an industrial disease. Chances are if a jury is involved they're basically going to be asked to decide between an accident or unlawful killing if it's not a suicide.
You can also record something called a narrative verdict. Watch the journos role their eyes in the press gallery if you go for that. It's basically a long story of what happened without a real set conclusion. It's a cop out. |
Brilliant.
Thanks North I'll send him a photo of your reply. | |
| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
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| Coroners Court on 09:28 - Mar 19 with 3776 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
I got called (letter) for it about 12 years ago.
Said I had to do it or give a good reason why not.
I wrote back saying I was thinking of having a sex change and was undergoing counseling to achieve this, would that have any bearing?
For some reason, they never wrote back, nothing at all, or been in touch since. [Post edited 19 Mar 2021 9:34]
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| Coroners Court on 09:55 - Mar 19 with 3704 views | MrSheen |
Still waiting to be called up for jury service. My daughter and a few of her friends have done it already. |  | | |
| Coroners Court on 10:04 - Mar 19 with 3667 views | Konk |
| Coroners Court on 09:55 - Mar 19 by MrSheen |
Still waiting to be called up for jury service. My daughter and a few of her friends have done it already. |
My jury experience was a real eye-opener. 2-3 people paying zero attention, 1 woman who lived in a parallel universe, and a mad bloke who thought he was some sort of forensic expert who wanted us to role play a fight in slow motion with him offering commentary and highlighting flaws in the prosecution’s case (“you can’t break someone’s jaw if they’re talking, because their mouth is open”). |  |
| Fulham FC: It's the taking part that counts |
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| Coroners Court on 10:04 - Mar 19 with 3665 views | enfieldargh |
| Coroners Court on 09:23 - Mar 19 by Northernr |
I used to cover Coroners back in the day. You don't get a jury very often, it usually means it's a death in police custody or a death at work caused by some negligence somewhere along the line. Jury is usually smaller than a criminal case too.
They'll sit there, witnesses will come up and lay out what they saw, facts of the case, whether there was any indication the geezer was feeling suicidal or not. They're not fun, the family is usuall sitting there front row, can be quite traumatic and tense.
Then they'll be invited to come up with a cause of death from natural causes, an accident, a suicide, a lawful killing, an unlawful killing or an industrial disease. Chances are if a jury is involved they're basically going to be asked to decide between an accident or unlawful killing if it's not a suicide.
You can also record something called a narrative verdict. Watch the journos role their eyes in the press gallery if you go for that. It's basically a long story of what happened without a real set conclusion. It's a cop out. |
Got to go through all this sometime soon as my brother-in-law took his life back in November.
told us could go on for as long as 12-18 months due to complexities and covid.
Thanks for the heads up on what to expect |  |
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| Coroners Court on 10:10 - Mar 19 with 3644 views | Northernr |
| Coroners Court on 10:04 - Mar 19 by Konk |
My jury experience was a real eye-opener. 2-3 people paying zero attention, 1 woman who lived in a parallel universe, and a mad bloke who thought he was some sort of forensic expert who wanted us to role play a fight in slow motion with him offering commentary and highlighting flaws in the prosecution’s case (“you can’t break someone’s jaw if they’re talking, because their mouth is open”). |
Mate of mine got the absolute dream ticket - a mad bloke insisting on defending himself. Always a belting week on the press bench when the guy defends himself.
Basically the bloke had two wives, who both lived with him, but one of them had got fed up with it and accused him of sexual assault, and also possessing a firearm. He didn't mind admitting to the gun, seemed quite proud of it, but insisted the relationship and all the sex had been completely consensual. And so commenced a long, drawn out week of him calling one homemade porn video after another into evidence, each of them played out to the jury on a screen placed in front of the jury box. Basically him pointing at it and saying "doesn't she look like she's enjoying that to you?" | | | |
| Coroners Court on 10:12 - Mar 19 with 3631 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
| Coroners Court on 10:04 - Mar 19 by Konk |
My jury experience was a real eye-opener. 2-3 people paying zero attention, 1 woman who lived in a parallel universe, and a mad bloke who thought he was some sort of forensic expert who wanted us to role play a fight in slow motion with him offering commentary and highlighting flaws in the prosecution’s case (“you can’t break someone’s jaw if they’re talking, because their mouth is open”). |
They let anyone do it with little background checks.
I was following the selection of jurors for the George Floyd case, not sure if that's any better or not. | |
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| Coroners Court on 10:12 - Mar 19 with 3639 views | Northernr |
| Coroners Court on 10:04 - Mar 19 by enfieldargh |
Got to go through all this sometime soon as my brother-in-law took his life back in November.
told us could go on for as long as 12-18 months due to complexities and covid.
Thanks for the heads up on what to expect |
Oh so sorry to hear that mate. Don't know the circumstances but if it's a suicide and there isn't a lot of doubt about that then you won't have a jury and the hearing itself should be quite short. Couple of witnesses to speak to the state of mind of the deceased, and if a note was left, and then the coroner will just sign it off as a suicide and offer condolences. Shouldn't take more than half an hour. | | | |
| Coroners Court on 10:14 - Mar 19 with 3616 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
| Coroners Court on 10:04 - Mar 19 by enfieldargh |
Got to go through all this sometime soon as my brother-in-law took his life back in November.
told us could go on for as long as 12-18 months due to complexities and covid.
Thanks for the heads up on what to expect |
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| Coroners Court on 10:15 - Mar 19 with 3613 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
| Coroners Court on 10:10 - Mar 19 by Northernr |
Mate of mine got the absolute dream ticket - a mad bloke insisting on defending himself. Always a belting week on the press bench when the guy defends himself.
Basically the bloke had two wives, who both lived with him, but one of them had got fed up with it and accused him of sexual assault, and also possessing a firearm. He didn't mind admitting to the gun, seemed quite proud of it, but insisted the relationship and all the sex had been completely consensual. And so commenced a long, drawn out week of him calling one homemade porn video after another into evidence, each of them played out to the jury on a screen placed in front of the jury box. Basically him pointing at it and saying "doesn't she look like she's enjoying that to you?" |
and the verdict was? | |
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| Coroners Court on 10:16 - Mar 19 with 3614 views | TheChef |
| Coroners Court on 10:10 - Mar 19 by Northernr |
Mate of mine got the absolute dream ticket - a mad bloke insisting on defending himself. Always a belting week on the press bench when the guy defends himself.
Basically the bloke had two wives, who both lived with him, but one of them had got fed up with it and accused him of sexual assault, and also possessing a firearm. He didn't mind admitting to the gun, seemed quite proud of it, but insisted the relationship and all the sex had been completely consensual. And so commenced a long, drawn out week of him calling one homemade porn video after another into evidence, each of them played out to the jury on a screen placed in front of the jury box. Basically him pointing at it and saying "doesn't she look like she's enjoying that to you?" |
Good grief 
I did jury service a couple of years ago - was really interesting being part of the process, although the case was about indecent images of children, so not very pleasant in that respect. |  |
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| Coroners Court on 10:17 - Mar 19 with 3609 views | Konk |
| Coroners Court on 10:04 - Mar 19 by enfieldargh |
Got to go through all this sometime soon as my brother-in-law took his life back in November.
told us could go on for as long as 12-18 months due to complexities and covid.
Thanks for the heads up on what to expect |
Very sorry to hear that, mate. Hope you’re all doing okay in the circumstances.
As Clive says, we had a suicide in our family and the hearing was brief, as there was a long history of mental health issues and also a note. | |
| Fulham FC: It's the taking part that counts |
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| Coroners Court on 10:18 - Mar 19 with 3599 views | Metallica_Hoop |
| Coroners Court on 10:10 - Mar 19 by Northernr |
Mate of mine got the absolute dream ticket - a mad bloke insisting on defending himself. Always a belting week on the press bench when the guy defends himself.
Basically the bloke had two wives, who both lived with him, but one of them had got fed up with it and accused him of sexual assault, and also possessing a firearm. He didn't mind admitting to the gun, seemed quite proud of it, but insisted the relationship and all the sex had been completely consensual. And so commenced a long, drawn out week of him calling one homemade porn video after another into evidence, each of them played out to the jury on a screen placed in front of the jury box. Basically him pointing at it and saying "doesn't she look like she's enjoying that to you?" |
I had a case in Southwark where he sacked his lawyer and started to defend himself but he'd lost weight in stir so his trousers kept slipping down.
He examined the witnesses in his best East end butlers voice,brilliant.
The case involved exploding evidence, a police chase involving a light aircraft and a witness who reminded me of a white sadsack from raggydolls.
In the end it was thrown out on a technicality as the procecution had screwed up. (apparently)
A most interesting week that was. [Post edited 19 Mar 2021 10:20]
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| Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent |
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| Coroners Court on 10:20 - Mar 19 with 3592 views | Northernr |
| Coroners Court on 10:15 - Mar 19 by 2Thomas2Bowles |
and the verdict was? |
I'll have to ask him to remind me but I think it was guilty on the firearm stuff, which he didn't dispute, and not guilty on the sex stuff.
Another of the LFW crew did jury service on a pretty cut and dried guilty case, and when they got in the jury room one of the other jurors just folded their arms and went "no. not guilty. I fcking hate the police, he'll have had his reasons for doing what he did, I ain't sending him down". So they basically had to sit there with 11 of them set on guilty and one of them refusing to even talk about it for two days until the judge agreed he would take a majority verdict at which point it was over in 3 minutes. | | | |
| Coroners Court on 10:23 - Mar 19 with 3574 views | EastR |
My one and only experience of jury service - it was a VAT fraud case (£m+) - lead me to conclude two things that I would still stand by today (supported by other people’s similar experiences including those in the legal profession) :
You need specialised juries for complex financial/technical cases, and
If I ever found myself on the end of a prosecution, I would never admit guilt not matter how bang to rights they appeared to have me. Because there are always 2 or 3 muppets on a jury of your peers who will swallow any old sh1t giving you a great chance of being cleared. |  |
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| Coroners Court on 10:25 - Mar 19 with 3564 views | Northernr |
| Coroners Court on 10:23 - Mar 19 by EastR |
My one and only experience of jury service - it was a VAT fraud case (£m+) - lead me to conclude two things that I would still stand by today (supported by other people’s similar experiences including those in the legal profession) :
You need specialised juries for complex financial/technical cases, and
If I ever found myself on the end of a prosecution, I would never admit guilt not matter how bang to rights they appeared to have me. Because there are always 2 or 3 muppets on a jury of your peers who will swallow any old sh1t giving you a great chance of being cleared. |
I agree on the specialised jury stuff. I've covered enormously complicated fraud trials that went on for fcking weeks and I'm looking across at the jury box and it was pretty clear they were all completely out of their depth with it. | | | |
| Coroners Court on 10:26 - Mar 19 with 3552 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
| Coroners Court on 10:20 - Mar 19 by Northernr |
I'll have to ask him to remind me but I think it was guilty on the firearm stuff, which he didn't dispute, and not guilty on the sex stuff.
Another of the LFW crew did jury service on a pretty cut and dried guilty case, and when they got in the jury room one of the other jurors just folded their arms and went "no. not guilty. I fcking hate the police, he'll have had his reasons for doing what he did, I ain't sending him down". So they basically had to sit there with 11 of them set on guilty and one of them refusing to even talk about it for two days until the judge agreed he would take a majority verdict at which point it was over in 3 minutes. |
So She was enjoying it thought the jury
My Dad refused to do it telling a judge, he just could not send someone to prison which he thought was inhuman but hanging was ok but had been abolished. | |
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| Coroners Court on 10:35 - Mar 19 with 3528 views | Northernr |
As we're telling court stories, here's one of the worst days of my life.
When I was court reporting in Northants there was this big story about a bloke who'd been punched in the back of the head in the smoking area outside some sulubrious nightclub in Wellingborough. Dead before he hit the ground, caught him just right in the back of the skull. My paper covered the death the day after, pictures of the flowers, death knock with the family all of that. Turned out the poor bstrd had just had a baby, so obviously all the coverage was "father of young baby killed outside nightspot" and stuff like that.
Anyway, by the time the case comes around I'm on courts for the paper. Trial got moved up to the big Crown Court in Nottingham, so I head up there for the week. First morning is spent entirely without the jury in the room, with the defence arguing that it should never be mentioned in evidence that the deceased has got a 1 year old daughter, because it's not relevent to the incident and it'll just prejudice the jury against the defendent. In the end the judge agrees, says it's not admisable and not to be mentioned. Jury called in, afternoon of evidence heard, and we break for the day.
Now, because I'm a nutter, I go straight to the train station and down to London because we're playing Palace at home that night (I'm sure it was Palace), and file my copy over the phone from the train. Obviously I tell the news editor that we can't mention the baby thing because it's been deemed inadmissable, but he gets really funny with me, saying we led with it at the time of the death, all the pics we've got of the deceased have the kid in it, starts pressing me on exactly what reporting restrictions were passed snd what the judge said and I had to be honest and say I didn't know exactly, and was now on a train where I couldn't check, but needless to say we can't mention it so don't. Hang up. Go to QPR. Get back to Nottingham at like 2am, get my head down in the Premier Inn.
Get to court the following morning, hungover to fck, and the defence is sitting there with a copy of our paper from the night before. The fcking news editor has ignored me, gone with the pic of the kid, called him a father in the headline, splattered it all over the front page. Defence moved for a mistrial and I got held in contempt of court.
Now that was a loooooooooooooooong day. | | | |
| Coroners Court on 10:40 - Mar 19 with 3498 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
| Coroners Court on 10:35 - Mar 19 by Northernr |
As we're telling court stories, here's one of the worst days of my life.
When I was court reporting in Northants there was this big story about a bloke who'd been punched in the back of the head in the smoking area outside some sulubrious nightclub in Wellingborough. Dead before he hit the ground, caught him just right in the back of the skull. My paper covered the death the day after, pictures of the flowers, death knock with the family all of that. Turned out the poor bstrd had just had a baby, so obviously all the coverage was "father of young baby killed outside nightspot" and stuff like that.
Anyway, by the time the case comes around I'm on courts for the paper. Trial got moved up to the big Crown Court in Nottingham, so I head up there for the week. First morning is spent entirely without the jury in the room, with the defence arguing that it should never be mentioned in evidence that the deceased has got a 1 year old daughter, because it's not relevent to the incident and it'll just prejudice the jury against the defendent. In the end the judge agrees, says it's not admisable and not to be mentioned. Jury called in, afternoon of evidence heard, and we break for the day.
Now, because I'm a nutter, I go straight to the train station and down to London because we're playing Palace at home that night (I'm sure it was Palace), and file my copy over the phone from the train. Obviously I tell the news editor that we can't mention the baby thing because it's been deemed inadmissable, but he gets really funny with me, saying we led with it at the time of the death, all the pics we've got of the deceased have the kid in it, starts pressing me on exactly what reporting restrictions were passed snd what the judge said and I had to be honest and say I didn't know exactly, and was now on a train where I couldn't check, but needless to say we can't mention it so don't. Hang up. Go to QPR. Get back to Nottingham at like 2am, get my head down in the Premier Inn.
Get to court the following morning, hungover to fck, and the defence is sitting there with a copy of our paper from the night before. The fcking news editor has ignored me, gone with the pic of the kid, called him a father in the headline, splattered it all over the front page. Defence moved for a mistrial and I got held in contempt of court.
Now that was a loooooooooooooooong day. |
Oh dear. did they drag the editor to court?
Was there another trial, verdict? | |
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| Coroners Court on 10:50 - Mar 19 with 3472 views | Northernr |
| Coroners Court on 10:40 - Mar 19 by 2Thomas2Bowles |
Oh dear. did they drag the editor to court?
Was there another trial, verdict? |
No that's the thing, I'm the front man, I'm the reporter covering the case, I'm the one in court, news editor is sitting back in an office somewhere, it's on me. It was fcking terrifying.
They decided to continue with the case purely because it was in Nottingham, outside our circulation area, so the jury wouldn't have seen the paper unless they'd gone looking for it online (which I'm sure they all do, I would) and had they done that they'd have seen the original stories from the time anyway so it would be rather redundant.
My editor, my news editor and I had to make submissions to the attorney general explaining what happened, how it happened, decision making etc. Think we got a knuckle rap. We should have got battered, we were bang to rights, basically ignored the fcking judge. Pig headed news editor arsy because he's now short of a picture for the front page.
The bloke that did it was quite a good looking young lad, really didn't look 'the type' at all if you can say that. There'd been a dispute earlier in the night in the nightclub over a spilt drink or something, they had all this CCTV thatwe had to sit through. Once they were outside I think the bloke must have said something, and he didn't half hit him. Brutal.
The defendent worked as a salesman in a mobile phone shop. When they put him up on the stand he turned the fcking patter on. Came across as a right smarmy, full of himself git in a shiny suit, while the family of the deceased are all crying in the public gallery. Basically hung himself, jury unanimoused him. Judge even said in his summing up that they should try not to hold his mannerisms in the witness box against him, it's a nerve jangling experience and he'd probably defaulted to mobile phone salesman by accident.
Anyway they found him guilty and after the verdict it was revealed that he was already out on bail for losing his temper and thumping somebody else in the face a couple of weeks prior. Basically a good looking, baby faced lad, with a steady job, professional, but a temper about as long as his little finger. | | | |
| Coroners Court on 10:58 - Mar 19 with 3450 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
Northernr
And there was me thinking that thugs were Arthur Mullard/ Frankie Fraser lookalikes  | |
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| Coroners Court on 10:59 - Mar 19 with 3449 views | Northernr |
| Coroners Court on 10:58 - Mar 19 by 2Thomas2Bowles |
Northernr
And there was me thinking that thugs were Arthur Mullard/ Frankie Fraser lookalikes |
Yeh well when he stepped into the witness box I was like "what?! him?!" I'd have fancied myself against him. | | | |
| Coroners Court on 11:03 - Mar 19 with 3432 views | 2Thomas2Bowles |
| Coroners Court on 10:59 - Mar 19 by Northernr |
Yeh well when he stepped into the witness box I was like "what?! him?!" I'd have fancied myself against him. |
There is a young 20's woman who lives around here been in prison for GBH a couple of times.
5ft and "the face of an angel" | |
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| Coroners Court on 11:20 - Mar 19 with 3392 views | BazzaInTheLoft |
| Coroners Court on 10:10 - Mar 19 by Northernr |
Mate of mine got the absolute dream ticket - a mad bloke insisting on defending himself. Always a belting week on the press bench when the guy defends himself.
Basically the bloke had two wives, who both lived with him, but one of them had got fed up with it and accused him of sexual assault, and also possessing a firearm. He didn't mind admitting to the gun, seemed quite proud of it, but insisted the relationship and all the sex had been completely consensual. And so commenced a long, drawn out week of him calling one homemade porn video after another into evidence, each of them played out to the jury on a screen placed in front of the jury box. Basically him pointing at it and saying "doesn't she look like she's enjoying that to you?" |
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/man-ex-wife-sword-fight-samura |  | | |
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