Shukri Abdi: High Court dismisses family bid to overturn coroner's verdict over tragic death

A request for a judicial review into a coroner's conclusion that the drowning of a 12-year-old Somali refugee was accidental has been dismissed by a High Court judge. Shukri Abdi, 12, died after getting into difficulties in the river in Bury during a heatwave in June 2019.

Following an inquest held in 2020, Coroner Joanne Kearsley ruled that on the ‘balance of probabilities’ Shukri died as a result of an accidental death. Last month her family went to the High Court in Manchester to challenge her conclusion, claiming it was a 'flawed' verdict.

Now a senior High Court judge has dismissed the application for a judicial review, concluding: "I have been unable to find any arguable ground for judicial review having any realistic prospect of success."

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The Abdi family argued the coroner only allowed evidence from the day of the tragedy. They said she ruled out evidence about alleged bullying Shukri had suffered previously by the children who were with her when she went into the water.

At the time of her death Shukri was with four other children, who for legal reasons can only be referred to as Child One, Two, Three and Four. The 2020 inquest heard how Child One encouraged Shukri to go into the water despite knowing she couldn’t swim.

Child One told Shukri she would look after her and would teach her to swim. Coroner Joanne Kearsley ruled that meant Child One had a duty of care to Shukri and breached that duty because she should have been able to foresee the risk of drowning.

But that breach, Ms Kearsley said, wasn’t serious enough to warrant a conclusion of gross negligence manslaughter.

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