Timely funerals

SIR – May I offer sincere condolences to Anne Griffin (Letters, May 1) on the loss of her husband. May she only know joyous events in the future.

But she misunderstands the dispute with Mary Hassell, the senior coroner for inner north London. Nobody ever asked Ms Hassell to prioritise dealing with Jewish and Muslim deaths over those of everybody else. She was only asked to take proper account of every family’s wishes and requirements.

The point is, as the courts have now agreed, that her policy of operating a “cab rank” system failed to distinguish between those families that were planning funerals several weeks in the future and those that wanted a funeral sooner, whether for religious reasons, in the case of Jews and Muslims, or for any other reasons, as, for example, in the case of Mrs Griffin’s late husband.

Had Mr Griffin died with Ms Hassell’s policy in force, it is actually more likely that it would have been impossible to hold his funeral before Christmas in accordance with the family’s wishes, than under the more enlightened systems used by many other coroners up and down the country where specific family wishes are given proper consideration. Brian Gedalla

London N3