Coroner sets inquest date into Joan’s death

Sunderland's senior coroner Derek Winter has set a date for the inquest into shopworker Joan Hoggett’s death.

Sunderland greatgrandmother Joan Hoggett suffered 29 knife injuries during a frenzied 50-second attack in the One Stop Shop on Sea Road in Fulwell, on September 5, 2018.

Her killer, Ethan Mountain, was made subject to an an indefinite detention order at Newcastle Crown Court in March 2019, after the judge directed the jury to find him not guilty of murder.

Sunderland’s senior coroner, Derek Winter, originally opened an inquest shortly after Mrs Hoggett's death, which he adjourned pending the outcome of the criminal case.

During a pre-inquest review yesterday, Mr Winter fixed the week of Monday, November 8, for the inquest into Joan’s death to begin at Sunderland’s new city hall.

The coroner said that the November date should give enough time for witnesses to be called and reports to be compiled.

Mountain, 19, of Heaton Gardens, South Shields, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

He had originally been accused of murder but both prosecution and defence teams accepted he was suffering an abnormality of mind at the time of the killing, which impaired his responsibility for it.

The criminal trial heard that the attack had led to 'catastrophic' blood loss, which sent the 62-year-old, from Grindon, into cardiac arrest and resulted in her death.