Garden Court's Dexter Dias QC and Deborah Coles, Co-Director of INQUEST, have published an article today on the Jake Hardy inquest. The article makes the case for the deaths of children in custody to be added to the Independent Review into custodial deaths, to be conducted by Lord Toby Harris.
Last week, an inquest jury returned a devastatingly critical verdict, finding that Jake, a highly vulnerable young person who suffered from dyslexia and ADHD, was failed in 12 fundamental respects by HMPYOI Hindley. The jury found that the prison's 12 failures materially contributed to Jake hanging himself. Dexter and Deborah's article, published in The Independent, argued that prisons are failing to protect vulnerable children.
At the inquest, held at Bolton Coroner's Court, Dexter led Garden Court's Richard Reynolds.
Dexter Dias QC and Richard Reynolds were instructed by Helen Stone, Daniel Machover, Eva Whittall and Shona Crallan of Hickman Rose. All lawyers received the invaluable assistance and support of INQUEST's Deb Coles and Anita Sharma.
Dexter and Richard are both members of the Garden Court Chambers Inquests Team.
For regular updates, follow Dexter, Richard, Daniel and INQUEST on Twitter.
