Coroner to retire after dealing with more than 100,000 deaths
THE CORONER for Leeds and Wakefield is to retire from his post next year after a 30-year career which has seen him deal with more than 100,000 reported deaths.
David Hinchliff, who will leave next March, said he had been planning his retirement for some time and “the time is now right to hand the service over.”
revealed in February that he was under investigation by an official watchdog over remarks made at an inquest of a West Yorkshire police officer who took his own life.
A month earlier, it emerged that Mr Hinchliff had been banned from driving for six months after racking up 12 penalty points for speeding in three years.
He has been overseeing inquests in Leeds and Wakefield for 24 years and first became a coroner in 1987.
Mr Hinchliff said: “I have had a long, interesting and satisfying career, which at times has been challenging and demanding.
“No two days are the same but it has been a privilege to be able to help the families of those who have died to have an understanding of the circumstances of the death. In the majority of cases it can help people get some sort of closure.
“The job has changed considerably since I became a Coroner, and families, rightly, no longer accept without reservation what the medical profession tells them.
“I will be sad to leave the service but I believe the time is now right to hand the service over.”
Wakefield council said in a statement that Mr Hinchliff had been planning his retirement for some time and had “made a number of changes in recent years to allow this to happen with minimal disruption to the service and public”.
In February, it emerged that Wakefield Coroner’s Court had drafted in extra workers from other areas after staff shortages left a backlog of more than 100 cases waiting to be looked into. West Yorkshire Police said “significant” staff shortages had impacted services to the public.