Shoreham air crash: Coroner apologises to families for inquest delays

Shoreham air crash victims. Top row, left to right: Matt Jones, Matthew Grimstone, Jacob Schilt, Maurice Abrahams, Richard Smith. Bottom row, left to right: Mark Reeves, Tony Brightwell, Mark Trussler, Daniele Polito, Dylan Archer, Graham Mallinson

The coroner in charge of an inquest into the deaths of 11 men in the Shoreham air crash has apologised to their families for delays.

The Hawker Hunter aircraft flown by Andrew Hill crashed on a dual carriageway in West Sussex on 22 August 2015.

At a pre-inquest review, coroner Penelope Schofield said hold-ups were due to delays with High Court rulings.

Hearings had been scheduled for March and April 2022.

Earlier this month the coroner lost a High Court bid to access video footage from the plane's cockpit for the inquests after the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) had opposed using the footage.

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West Sussex senior coroner Ms Schofield said: "I can only apologise that the hearings for March and April have been put back - it's just not possible to progress with those dates."

She added: "Our thoughts are with you. We know this has been a long journey. I'm fairly confident, as confident as I can be, that these inquests will be concluded by the end of the year."

The inquest hearings were originally due to be held in September 2020, but were delayed because of the pandemic.

Andrew Hill was acquitted of gross negligence manslaughter in 2019

Andrew Hill was acquitted of gross negligence manslaughter following a trial at the Old Bailey in 2019.

The AAIB inquiry concluded that the crash could have been avoided and was caused by pilot error when Mr Hill flew too low and too slowly while carrying out a manoeuvre.

The inquest is expected to last between three and four weeks.

A further pre-inquest review hearing, the eleventh to be held so far, has been provisionally set for 19 July.

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