England: Judicial review of coroner’s ‘cab rank’ rule granted

Mary Hassell, senior coroner for north London, has refused to prioritise deaths for religious reasons, The Guardian reports.

But under Jewish and Islamic law, bodies must be buried either on the day of death or as soon as possible thereafter.

And both religions see postmortems as desecrations.

Ms Hassell’s area includes Hackney, which has the largest concentration of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Europe and Tower Hamlets, which has the UK’s biggest Muslim community.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews has called for her to be fired while the Muslim Council of Britain, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have all called on her to reconsider her rule.

Ms Hassell brought her policy in after a dispute with the family of an Orthodox Jewish man who died last October and the Adath Yisroel Burial Society (ABYS) over what they said were unnecessary delays in releasing his body.

But the coroner said her staff had been bullied and intimidated by the burial society and family members.

She said “no death will be prioritised in any way over any other because of the religion of the deceased or family”.

Granting the application for judicial review, Mr Justice Holman said: “This claim clearly raises issues of considerable importance to the Jewish and Muslim communities.”

He added that any decision would apply to all of England and Wales, not just Ms Hassell’s jurisdiction.

Mr Corbyn told The Jewish Chronicle: “I fully support efforts to ensure public services respect their religious beliefs and traditions – and the coroner service should be no exception.”