coroners report/ dead brother, suspected foul play

[dmax]

im not in uk but found out 8 days ago my brother was found dead, i rang police that night and asked was there criminal investigation , they said no, no signs of forced entry, but he did have a black eye, he was heavy drinker and told to stop because of his liver. the body came back but im no nearer to knowing whats happened, why cant coroner or police tell us what he died of ? my sister is telling me now that there was foul play , that my kid brothers friends beat him up 2 days before, ive told her not to go jumping to conclusions and listening to rumours, my dad has phoned me and told me he suspects there is more to it, i cant get any sense out of anyway. what is the usual senario here, surely a qualified doctor knows either it was drink related, or his liver ? my head is going and im due to fly back next week to uk. i cannot sleep.

[woofgang]

what does it say on the death certificate?

[eyethenkyew]

Have your sister try to ascertain as much detail as possible from the Police in the meantime so that you might have a clearer picture of things by the time you return next week.

I know it's easy for me to say, but sadly you can obviously not do anything concrete if you're abroad, but it should go without saying that if there is cause for a Police investigation, then it surely will be set in motion prior to your return.

[Sqad]

The result of the post mortem would determine whether a criminal investigation would be necessary.

Your sister should tell you what was on the death certificate.........if a death certificate has been issued.

[DTCwordfan]

You may want to get a lawyer involved to ensure proper process and investigation is followed.

[Barmaid]

My coroner's law is a bit rusty, however, I think the procedure is something as follows:-

First of all there should be a post mortem. This normally happens if the death was sudden or unexplained and the deceased was not under the doctor. There is a link here:- http://www.nhs.uk/Con...ges/Introduction.aspx

Very often the cause of death can be ascertained by the PM. If so the death is certified with the cause as "PM without inquest". If the Coroner is satisfied of the name of deceased, place of death and cause of death he will release the body together with a full death certificate.

If the Coroner is not satisfied then he will call an inquest. Until the inquest is heard only an interim death certificate will be issued.

Therefore you need to establish whether a full or interim death certificate has been issued.

[pastyboy]

sorry for your loss, my brother died in mysterious cicumstances 14 years ago,his body was washed up on the isle of man and i was in cornwall. i had to make enquires by phone and its very frustrating, you may get more information at the inquest. your sister may be right, suspected foul play in my brothers death but the authorities wernt interested. im sorry to say unless you are very wealthy or very important there is little you can do. good luck hope you get some answers.lastly your brother sounds like a character so was mine,dont blame yourself.

[eyethenkyew]

The comments on here advising you to seek clarification via the Coroner are extremely premature to say the least on the basis of the information you have given, i.e that despite Police telling you no criminal investigation, you then go on to say that further information from your sister suggests foul play may well have played a part in your brother's death.

Even when there is what's called a "sudden death", i.e. person dies of old age, and Police attend the scene, it will automatically trigger liaison between them and the Coroner via a person known simply as a Coroner's Officer. Unless a cause of death was ascertained and a certificate issued by the doctor declaring life extinct, a post mortem would then ensue, and should it transpire that foul play was indeed involved in the cause of death, a full blown criminal enquiry and Coroner's inquest would be required.

Therefore, unless you find out before you return home that a death certificate HAS been already issued, you and your family's first port of call ought to be the Police local to where your brother lived, simply because, unless things have changed in recent years, the Coroner's Officer, who should be based at a main Police Station, would be the involved, as would the Police if anything untoward was suspected.