NI: Coroner criticises PPS delays after file takes eight months to reach prosecutor
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A coroner has criticised delays in the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) after a file failed to reach a senior public prosecutor until eight months after it was submitted.
The Police Ombudsman’s Office (PONI) sent a file to the PPS in October 2018 in relation to the death of 36-year-old Gerard McMahon, a Belfast DJ who died in September 2016.
A preliminary hearing at Belfast Coroner’s Court yesterday heard that a senior public prosecutor did not receive the file and begin examining it until May 2019, the Belfast Telegraph reports.
The PPS has raised concerns about an inquest into the death proceeding before a decision on criminal prosecution has been made, but Coroner Joe McCrisken said the PPS has had “more than enough time”.
Mr McCrisken said: “No decision has been taken yet, and as I have indicated to the Public Prosecution Service, I am just not prepared to wait and have things delayed any longer.
“I have a duty to progress the inquest as soon as possible so that evidence isn’t lost and so memories don’t fade.”
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