Gosport War Memorial Hospital deaths inquest lawyer to meet with more families

Leigh Day partner Emma Jones will be visiting Gosport on Friday, 27 August 2021, to meet families who are calling for the inquests and will be available to speak with other families from 11am to 1pm.

She will be based at St George’s Church of England, Portsea.
 
Anyone who wishes to speak with Emma during that time should contact Karen Buckley on kbuckley@leighday.co.uk to make an appointment.

Emma represents families who have secured inquests into the deaths of loved ones at Gosport War Memorial Hospital and also represents families who have applied to the Attorney General for permission for fresh inquests into the deaths of family members who died at Gosport and whose families say that their inquests were flawed and ineffective.
 
The Hampshire coroner has said inquests can be held into the deaths of Dulcie Middleton, Horace Reuben David Smith, Eva Isabel Page and Clifford Houghton after Emma argued that they had been left without justice or closure following repeated ineffective investigations into hundreds of deaths at the hospital in Gosport, Hampshire.
 
Emma has asked for a fresh inquests into the deaths of Arthur Denis Brian Cunningham who died aged 79, five days after he was admitted to Gosport War Memorial Hospital on 21 August 1998 and Gladys Mabel Richards admitted on 17 August 1998 where she remained until she died on 21 August 1998. 
 
Now the family of Robert Wilson, a former Petty Officer in the Royal Navy who died in 1998 aged 74 after he was sent to Gosport for recuperation following a broken arm, have joined the call for a Hillsborough-style inquest. Mr Wilson’s was one of 10 inquests heard together before a jury in 2009. The jury found that Mr Wilson and two others died after being given inappropriate medication.
 
Robert’s son, Robert Logan, said:
 
“We want answers about why Robert died and we agree that a Hillsborough-style inquest will be the best way forward. There needs to be  a full and fearless coronial investigation into what went wrong at Gosport Memorial Hospital and why it was allowed to continue over so many years.”
 
The families who have been granted inquests hope that others will join them in their campaign when solicitor Emma Jones travels to Gosport to meet them 27 August.
 
The Gosport Independent Panel report in 2018 concluded that the lives of more than 450 people had been shortened because of the routine practice of prescribing and administering opioids until the year 2000 at Gosport War Memorial Hospital and that probably at least another 200 patients were similarly affected.
 
A previous inquiry in 2013 left a number of questions “unanswered”, said former Bishop of Liverpool James Jones, who led the 2018 review.
 
Inquests in 2009 and 2013 concluded that care led by Dr Jane Barton, who was in charge of prescribing medication on the wards, had contributed to the deaths of six patients.
 
Only 11 inquests in total were carried out in relation to over 800 death certificates completed by Dr Barton who was found guilty of “serious professional misconduct” in 2010 but was not struck off.
 
Leigh Day partner, Emma Jones said: 
 
“A Hillsborough-style inquest would give the families the opportunity to have the deaths of their loved ones thoroughly investigated in front of a jury with witnesses being summoned to face questions from the families. I look forward to meeting the families already engaged in the call for this process and will be very happy to meet with others and answer any questions they may have.”