About HM Coroners
HM Coroners are independent judicial office holders appointed by the Crown and funded by their local authorities.
HM Coroner must investigate someone’s death if:
- the cause of death is unknown
- the death was violent or unnatural
- the person died in state detention eg police; prison; whilst under s.2/3 Mental Health Act
Deaths are referred to HM Coroner by the police, hospitals and GPs.
A Registrar will refer a death to HM Coroner if the Registrar believes a medical certificate of death provided by a doctor is defective or may need looking into.
HM Coroners appointed to Hampshire, Portsmouth and Southampton jurisdiction
HM Senior Coroner: Christopher Campbell Wilkinson
HM Area Coroners:
- Jason Pegg
- Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp
Assistant Coroners:
- Simon Burge
- Sarah Whitby
- Karen Harrold
- Robert Simpson
- Sunyana Sharma
- Rachel Spearing
- Sally Olsen
- Eunice Marland
- Henry Charles
- Kiran Chahal
- Emma Morris
Coroner's Officers
Coroner's Officers investigate on behalf of HM Coroner and are the point of contact for the deceased’s family and other interested persons in a case.