Coroners
The role of the Coroner
The Coroner has a duty to investigate the circumstances of sudden, unnatural or uncertified deaths that are reported. They have to find out the medical cause of the death if it is not known.
Even where a death has been reported to him the Coroner may decide after preliminary questioning that death was quite natural and the investigation should go no further.
In addition, the Coroner is responsible for determining issues of treasure trove.
Who reports a death to the Coroner
Deaths will normally be reported to the Coroner by the police, a doctor or a registrar of births and deaths e.g. when no doctor has treated the deceased during his or her last illness or when the death was sudden, unexpected or unnatural.
What happens when a death is reported
Where a death has been reported to the Coroner, the deceased will be moved to the mortuary.
The Council is responsible for removing the deceased from the place of death to the mortuary. If you would like more information about these arrangements please contact the Registration and Coroners Manager on 01202 789057.
If the Coroner decides that a medical examination of the deceased is required a pathologist will carry out a post mortem. This will take place at Poole Hospital 
. If the post mortem shows the death was natural, there may be no need for an inquest. If the death is not due to a natural cause then the Coroner will hold an inquest.
Once at the mortuary, the deceased is under the Coroner's jurisdiction and will remain so until the Coroner releases the body for the funeral arrangements to be made.
The Coroner must be notified of every case when a body is to be taken out of England and Wales, whether or not there has been an inquest. When a body has been brought into England and Wales from another country the Coroner may be able to give some help in finding the cause of death and may be required to hold an inquest.
What happens at an inquest
An Inquest is not a trial.
It is a limited inquiry to find out who has died, and how, when and where they died. It is not the job of the Coroner to find someone responsible for the death, as a trial would do.
Most inquests are held without a jury. There are particular times when a jury will be called if the death occurred:
- in prison
- in police custody
- as a result from an incident at work
In every inquest held with a jury, it is the jury, and not the Coroner, which makes the final decision. This is called returning the verdict. Jurors are paid expenses and some money towards loss of earnings.
History of the role
The Coroner is an independent judicial officer presiding over a Court of Record within the English Judicial system. The office is one of the oldest known to English law and is usually dated to 1194.
The office was originally created to provide a local official whose primary duty was to protect the financial interest of the Crown in criminal proceedings - "Keeper of the King's Pleas". Anyone who found a body whose death was thought to be sudden or unnatural was required to raise the "hue and cry" and to notify the Coroner. Failure to summon the Coroner could result in individual or community fines.
Over the centuries the Coroners responsibilities changed until the Coroners Act of 1887 consolidated their present role.
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