Documentary star is region’s new coroner
ATOP lawyer who starred in a TV documentary series about the work of the Crown Prosecution Service has been appointed the new senior coroner for south Manchester.
Alison Mutch, who will preside over inquests covering deaths in Stockport, Tameside and Trafford, replaces John Pollard, who retired in June.
Ms Mutch played a leading role in the BBC documentary ‘The Prosecutors’, which examined the work of the CPS in the Mersey and Cheshire areas.
Viewers saw her make tough decisions in harrowing criminal cases, including the death of a young boy in a road traffic collision, and also a sex abuse investigation.
Ms Mutch, who lives in Cheshire, will take up the role on February 1 next year.
The appointment, which was ratified by the Lord Chancellor, was announced by Stockport Council.
Ms Mutch, who was awarded an OBE in June for services to law and order, qualified as a solicitor in 1991 after reading law at Liverpool University and the College of Law in Chester.
She joined the CPS in 1992, qualifying as a crown advocate in 2001.
During her career she has prosecuted a wide variety of cases and specialised in rape cases and serious sexual offences.
Ms Mutch became a branch crown prosecutor in 2007 and held a number of posts across the region, becoming deputy chief crown prosecutor for MerseyCheshire CPS in August 2013.
She is also currently assistant coroner for Manchester west.
Former south Manchester senior coroner John Pollard retired after presiding over more than 16,000 inquests in a 21-year career sitting in court in Stockport town centre.
His office investigated killer GP Harold Shipman – who murdered at least 250 patients – Dale Cregan, who murdered police officers Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes as well as two rivals, and nurse Victorino Chua, who murdered and poisoned patients at Stockport’s Stepping Hill Hospital.
The trio of killers are responsible for the highest-profile deaths among the 63,000 cases Mr Pollard’s office dealt with since he took over the role as lead coroner for the south Manchester area in 1995.