Alice Gross blunder coroner is back at work after two years

“Offensive texts”: Chinyere Inyama was alleged to have made remarks about a member of staff being gay

A controversial coroner who was reprimanded for bullying a staff member and sending offensive texts to a colleague is back at work after a two-year absence, the Standard can reveal.

He had first hit the headlines in 2014 when he lost a 30-page police file into the death of teenager Alice Gross, who was murdered in a sex attack.

Mr Inyama was given “formal advice” following a judicial conduct investigation but was allowed to keep his job, and the official censure was for failing to report the incident promptly rather than the initial blunder.

However, Miss Gross’s grieving parents said they were “bewildered and angry” at the incident and the 14-year-old’s inquest was eventually handled by a different coroner.

Victim: teenager Alice Gross was murdered in West London, and coroner Chinyere Inyama lost a 30-page police file on the case

He was given a reprimand for mis-conduct in December last year at the end of a 14-month investigation into the bullying claims by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office, and was told to undergo retraining to avoid a repeat of his behaviour.

The Standard has now learned Mr Inyama was officially back at work last Monday, but he was working from home and has not yet returned to the coroners’ offices in Fulham or overseen any inquest hearings.

He has continued to receive his £120,000-a-year salary while off work, and is expected eventually to go back to handling investigations into deaths across Hillingdon, Ealing, Hounslow, Richmond, Kingston and Hammersmith & Fulham despite widespread discontent at his past performance.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council, which leads the local authorities covered by the court who pay the coroner’s wages, has already said Mr Inyama’s resignation would be “the best result for bereaved families”.

In October 2016, Mr Inyama was investigated again when complaints were made about his behaviour to members of staff. Apparent texts from the coroner have since emerged, including one where he allegedly said: “I don’t want dodgy t*ts answering the phones.” In another, he allegedly wrote about a woman: “She must be gay. She needs to find someone to bump crotches with.”

The JCIO investigation, under the watch of then Lord Chancellor David Lidington and the Lord Chief Justice Ian Burnett, was conducted behind closed doors. Just before last Christmas, a statement was issued saying Mr Inyama had been censured but would eventually be able to return to work.

“The Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice found that Mr Inyama had bullied a member of coronial staff and that this behaviour, together with texts and remarks to a second member of coronial staff, amounted to serious misconduct,” it said. “The Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice have issued Mr Inyama with a reprimand.”

The London councils explored extensive legal routes to try to stop Mr Inyama from returning to his job but have now exhausted their options and accepted that his return is “inevitable”. He has also faced criticism in the past for delays in providing bereaved families with death certificates, with some saying they waited years to receive the paperwork.

Mr Inyama has also been accused of holding inquest hearings in the middle of the night, in a bid to catch up on a mounting backlog of work.

Colleagues have kept the coroners’ court running in his extended absence, with assistant coroner Dr Sean Cummings overseeing the high-profile inquest last week of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, the 15-year-old who died from an allergic reaction to a Pret A Manger sandwich. Hammersmith & Fulham council said this week: “Our number one priority is bereaved families and improving the service they get. We strongly urge the Lord Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor to now take every possible step to make the service work for residents.”

Mr Inyama told the Standard he had “absolutely no comment”.

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