End of an era as coroner investigating deaths of Wigan residents begins his retirement

Prof Dr Alan Walsh has met many bereaved families trying to find out what happened to their loved ones in his role as area coroner for Manchester west, which covers Wigan, Bolton and Salford.

Based at Bolton Coroner’s Court, he has conducted more than 5,500 inquests, opened several thousand inquests and been involved in the investigation of more than 100,000 deaths in the three boroughs.

Becoming a coroner was a “second career” for Prof Dr Walsh, who studied law and joined Bolton-based Russell & Russell Solicitors in 1973.

He became a solicitor and progressed to joint senior partner in 1983, a position he held until his retirement in 2010.

He specialised in criminal law and appeared in court almost daily, but also manned a 24/7 telephone advice line from his home for more than 20 years, giving free legal advice.

During his career, the firm grew from having two offices to 10, including one in Atherton.

Prof Dr Walsh also worked in sports law and licensing, which included acting on behalf of high-profile footballers, managers and for new stadiums.

But it was his work as a coroner which he said had been the most interesting part of his 52-year career.

He said: “If I hadn’t done law at university, I would have done medicine. I have always had a dual interest in law and medicine. My main career was as a lawyer, but the coroner has the perfect blend of law and medicine and that’s what attracted me.

"Also, I’m very much concerned about service to the bereaved, because the bereaved need service, they need compassion, they need a sensitive touch and that was something I was very keen to pursue and to give that service to the bereaved and to investigate death both fully and appropriately.

"I have always believed that an investigation of someone’s death, to satisfy the bereaved in relation to the cause of death, is extremely important.”

He was appointed as assistant deputy coroner in 2001 and initially did the role alongside his work as a lawyer, before taking it up full-time in 2010. He became area coroner in 2013 following a change in legislation.

Over the past 24 years, Prof Dr Walsh has led investigations into many deaths and was on call 24/7 – fortunately with the backing of his “very supportive” wife Linda.

For example, he would be needed if police were investigating a death and wanted a forensic post-mortem examination to be done, for families who wished to hold funerals quickly according to their faith, and for organ and tissue donation purposes.

Only around 20 per cent of deaths investigated actually result in an inquest.

"Eighty per cent of deaths are dealt with by the coroner investigating the death to satisfy themselves that it is a natural cause of death,” he said.

"If the cause of death is unnatural, unknown or in state detention, there must be an inquest.

"We have a lot of initial investigations to find out if it’s a natural cause of death. It’s a relief to many families to discover that their loved one died from a natural cause and it was just one of those things that caused their death, rather than anything that might be sinister.”

If an inquest is necessary, Prof Dr Walsh presided over the hearings – sometimes with a jury – to obtain evidence from witnesses and establish who died, when and where they died, and how they came by their death.

Sometimes, lessons can be learned from the circumstances surroundings someone’s death and he wrote Prevention of Future Deaths reports calling for action to be taken.

One of his most memorable cases involved a woman who collapsed in the toilet on a Ryanair flight from Manchester to Lanzarote.

While a doctor came forward to help, there was only a medical bag on the aeroplane and no life-saving equipment such as a defibrillator.

Prof Dr Walsh said Ryanair representatives attended the inquest in Bolton – despite being outside his jurisdiction as the firm is based in Ireland – and he wrote a report which led to the airline now having vital life-saving equipment on its flights, with other companies following suit.

Another key part of his time as coroner was the coronavirus pandemic, when he was acting as the senior coroner following the sudden death of his colleague Jennifer Leeming.

He had to attend gold command meetings with senior leaders, such as the council’s chief executive and chief medical officer, at least once a day, the majority of his staff began to work from home and court hearings were paused.

Eventually, arrangements were made for inquests to resume, with social distancing and some witnesses appearing remotely.

The use of video conferencing technology during inquests continues today and is one of the many changes Prof Dr Walsh has seen.

He said: “There has been a lot of change over the years – change in legislation, change in the expectations of the bereaved and change to the complications and complexity of investigations of deaths. Now inquests are much more complex, they are much more investigative and more questions are raised by the families.”

Other changes have included the improvement of facilities at Bolton Coroner’s Court – including the opening of a new courtroom last year – and the introduction of non-invasive post-mortem examinations using a CT scan.

Now approaching his 75th birthday, Prof Dr Walsh has decided it is time to retire – but his family will remain involved in the coronial service as his daughter Rachael Griffin is the senior coroner for Dorset.

He is looking forward to spending more time with friends and family, while continuing to be involved with coronial courses at the University of Greater Manchester in Bolton.