Call made for Manchester's senior coroner to be suspended amid concerns about his conduct and capacity to do the job

A call has been made for Manchester's senior coroner to be suspended amid concerns about his conduct and capacity to do the job. The Manchester Evening News can reveal that a formal complaint on behalf of Manchester City Council has been made to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) asking for an investigation into Nigel Meadows' conduct.

The JCIO, which is responsible for investigating complaints against judicial officers, including coroners, has confirmed the matter is 'under consideration'. The complaint, which raised concerns about five 'specific areas' of Mr Meadows' conduct, has been seen by the M.E.N.

Although Mr Meadows is funded by Manchester City Council, he is completely independent. He has presided over more than 10,000 inquests during his career and has continued to oversee hearings in the 14 months since the complaint was made.

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Clearly the fact of the complaint raises questions about the confidence Manchester City Council has in this senior coroner. This is clearly a matter of public concern because coroners are an extremely important judicial role and Mr Meadows was appointed senior coroner for Manchester in 2006.

His job is to investigate deaths within the Manchester area where the cause is unknown or there is reason to think the death may be unnatural. Indeed it was Mr Meadows who opened the inquests into the deaths of the 22 people who lost their lives in the 2017 Manchester Arena terrorist bombing and went on to preside over a number of pre-inquest review hearings relating to the atrocity, but on October 22, 2019, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced an independent public inquiry