Judges Order New Inquest

The High Court ruled this afternoon that there should be a new inquest into the death of Stephane Aineto - a 28 year old French man who was killed in Brighton in July 2001 when he was run over by a refuse truck driven on Council business. The inquest must take place in front of a jury

Lord Justice Dyson and Mr Justice Gibbs ruled that:

"The failure to summon a jury was a serious procedural impropriety."

John Halford of Bindman and Partners, the family's solicitor, said:

"This is a huge milestone in this family's path to justice. They have established that a fundamental element of the inquest was missing in that because this was a work-related death, a jury had to be summoned.

"The coroner, according to the court, never addressed her mind to this critical issue. The judge went on to comment that the new inquest was necessary because of the unanswered questions into Stephane's death and such a new inquest could shed light on these matters."

Sandrine Mehadhebi Aineto, the sister of Stephane, commented:

"The decision by the judges to hold a new inquest will finally allow us to properly understand how Stephane died. It is a start of something positive."

Earlier in the day the judges had ruled that there was "reason to suspect" that the death was caused by an

"accident, poisoning or disease notice of which is required to be given under any Act to ... an inspector appointed under section 19 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974"

and as such there was a mandatory requirement upon the coroner to hold the inquest in front of a jury.

To read more about the case and this judicial review, click here

For Further Information:

John Halford, Bindman and Partners	7833 4433 j.halford@bindmans.com
David Bergman, CCA	020 7 490 4494
Ron Trussel (Family Friend)	rontrussell@lineone.net

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1. The Centre for Corporate Accountability is an independent non-profit advice and research group concerned with promoting worker and public safety.