Coroner asks for £210k extra funding to meet demand

Staffordshire’s top coroner has asked for a £210,000 funding boost, as the county is seeing a record number of bereaved families waiting a year or more to find out why their loved ones died.

Andrew Barkley, senior coroner for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, says the area needs a third, full-time area coroner, costing £182,000 a year, to help meet the growing demand for lengthy inquests into local deaths.