Coroner suspends girls' inquest until inquiry
Family handoutsInquests for two 17-year-old girls who died while under the care of a "chaotic and unsafe" mental health hospital have been suspended to await the outcome of a promised public inquiry.
Christie Harnett and Nadia Sharif both died in 2019 while patients at West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough, with their deaths leading to its closure soon after.
A public inquiry into Tees, Esk and Wear Valley (TEWV) NHS Trust was promised by the government in December 2025, but County Durham and Darlington coroner Crispin Oliver heard a chairman was yet to be appointed.
Despite concerns from the girls' families, he decided to suspend the inquests, which had been due to begin in November.
At a short hearing at Crook Coroner's Court, Oliver said the public inquiry's remit would "likely be far wider" than that of an inquest and there was "generally no public interest in the duplication of inquiries".
Cover failings 'in detail'
Representing both families, Anna Morris KC said they wanted to ensure "everything is done" to "drive forward the investigation" to get "accountability and the healing these families and others so desperately need".
She said seven months on from the inquiry being announced, no chair had yet been appointed or terms of reference even drafted.
The lack of any clarity was a source of "immense frustration and distress" for the families, Morris said.
Under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the state has an obligation, usually completed by a coroner, to carry out a full and prompt investigation where the state may have caused or contributed to a person's death.
Morris said it was "unclear" how the suspension of the inquest could meet those obligations.
She said the families would "insist" any investigation should cover "in detail" the failings that led to the teenagers' deaths and how the hospital, which had been "chaotic and unsafe for months", was allowed to remain open even after bosses knew of the problems.
"Families are clear it should not have taken the deaths of their children for the trust to close the [hospital]," Morris said.
She said Christie's family had been complaining since 2017 and they wanted to know why the "unsafe" unit was allowed to continue and why there was a "lack of oversight" by health watchdogs.
'Suspension under review'
Oliver said he recently met with the inquiry's newly appointed secretary who confirmed a chair, most probably a senior judge, was being identified, after which terms of reference would be set.
He said he noted the families' "disquiet" which had been "very forcefully expressed" and he would keep his decision to suspend under review.
If there was "no progress towards" the public inquiry "within a reasonable time", he would consider resuming the inquest, he said.
Christie, from Newton Aycliffe, died in June 2019 and Nadia, from Middlesbrough, in August, shortly before the Care Quality Commission ordered the hospital to be closed.
The inquiry was announced by then-health secretary Wes Streeting after he met Christie and Nadia's families and the family of 18-year-old Emily Moore, whose inquest Oliver is currently presiding over.
The jury is still out considering its conclusions about her death at a TEWV hospital in Durham, including whether her treatment at West Lane was a factor.
Streeting said the inquiry would look "into the deaths of mental health patients" at TEWV, which operates hospitals across Teesside and County Durham.
