Amy Winehouse's Coroner resigns, Singer's Inquest May Be Illegal
The family of the late singer Amy Winehouse said that they were seeking legal advice following news that the coroner who oversaw the inquest into the death of the 27-year-old has resigned after her qualifications were questioned, UK officials said Wednesday.
Last October coroner Suzanne Greenaway had declared that Winehouse suffered a “death by misadventure” on July 23, and that her passing was an “unintended consequence” of accidental alcohol poisoning following a period of abstinence.
A month later Greenaway resigned because it was discovered that she did not have sufficient legal experience in the UK when she was appointed assistant deputy by her husband Andrew Reid in 2009, but details of her departure were only made public on Wednesday, raising fears of the possibility that the circumstances of Winehouse’s death may need to be re-examined.
The lord chief justice who conducted the hearing last October into the death of the 27-year–old singer has referred concerns about Greenaway’s qualifications to the Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC) in December, and in a statement the OJC confirmed that it "has been made aware of the concerns in relation to the appointment of Ms. Suzanne Greenaway as assistant deputy coroner by the inner north London coroner and has commenced a conduct investigation".
Camden Council, the local authority, said it was confident that Reid “had made an error in good faith” when he appointed his wife, but the issue was still being considered by the OJC.
"I appointed my wife as an assistant deputy coroner as I believed at the time that her experience as a solicitor and barrister in Australia satisfied the requirements of the post," he said in a statement Wednesday. "In November of last year it became apparent that I had made an error in the appointment process and I accepted her resignation."
Greenaway had overseen 12 inquests in Camden, a north London borough where Winehouse lived, and other in East London.
Reid was "confident that all of the inquests handled were done so correctly," but would redo inquests if the families of the decrease wanted it.
Winehouse’s family has not decided what to do.
In a statement, the singer’s family said they were "taking advice on the implications of this and will decide if any further discussion with the authorities is needed."
Last year during the inquest into Winehouse’s death, it was revealed that that the Grammy-award-winner had more than five times the legal drink and drive alcohol limit in her blood when she was found dead in her home by a security guard.
Winehouse, known for her beehive hairdos and her multiple Grammy awards for her album Back to Black, had been addicted to drugs and alcohol for years prior to her death.