620 people bereaved due to Covid-19 call on the government to hold an immediate public inquiry to prevent further deaths
Pete Weatherby QC, assisted by Mira Hammad and Christian Weaver of Garden Court North Chambers, is instructed by Broudie Jackson Canter solicitors on behalf of 620 relatives of people who have died due to Covid-19. The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group have issued a petition which highlights the “compelling need to set up the inquiry immediately”, to consider the “life and death” measures necessary to “minimise the ongoing effects of the virus.”
The legal team, on behalf of the families, have emphasised the government’s legal duty to hold a public inquiry to examine a range of issues including government decision making and the state of preparedness; which arguably contributed to their relatives’ deaths.
Matt Fowler is a co-founder and spokesperson for the families’ group. His 56-year-old father, Ian, a retired design engineer for Jaguar Land Rover, died on 13 April. He is quoted in The Guardian as saying “It has become tragically clear that fatal mistakes have been made by the government in its handling of the pandemic. The crucial fact is that every one of those statistics was a living breathing person, taken before their time and leaving an empty void in the lives of their families and friends.”
Elkan Abrahamson, of Broudie Jackson Canter Solicitors told the Radio 4 Today programme that a limited independent inquiry was needed as soon as possible. He told the programme “in this case, if it does take a long time more lives will be lost. That is the difference between this situation and other situations where inquests, or inquiries, take place. It’s a continuing crisis and we think we can make a difference.”
You can read news coverage of this call for a public inquiry at the links below:
