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01/11/2006
Inquest into judge fire death announced
The High Court has ordered a fresh inquest into the death of a judge who died in a fire in his garden shed.
Andrew Chubb, 58, died in the fire at his home near Chard, Somerset, in July 2001.
The fire is understood to have occurred less than an hour after the judge had asked his wife of 34 years, Jennifer for a divorce.
The original inquest had been conducted by the East Somerset Coroner in December 2001 and ruled that the judge's death was accidental. Mrs Chubb had been arrested and interviewed in connection with her husband's death but was never charged.
Mr Chubb's mistress, Kerry Sparrow, had challenged the ruling.
On Wednesday, Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips and Mr Justice Roderick Evans quashed the first inquest and ordered a new one before a different coroner, saying that new evidence cast doubt on the original verdice.
They said that a fresh investigation might cause "distress" to the judge's family, but said: "Nonetheless, we have concluded that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to leave undisturbed, in a case which has been the subject of wide public interest, a verdict which is based on only part of the relevant evidence - and which the balance of the relevant evidence suggests may be open to doubt."
The High Court said that there was "not a shred of evidence" to support an unlawful killing verdict, but said that suicide was still a possible verdict and justified a new investigation.
(KMcA)
Andrew Chubb, 58, died in the fire at his home near Chard, Somerset, in July 2001.
The fire is understood to have occurred less than an hour after the judge had asked his wife of 34 years, Jennifer for a divorce.
The original inquest had been conducted by the East Somerset Coroner in December 2001 and ruled that the judge's death was accidental. Mrs Chubb had been arrested and interviewed in connection with her husband's death but was never charged.
Mr Chubb's mistress, Kerry Sparrow, had challenged the ruling.
On Wednesday, Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips and Mr Justice Roderick Evans quashed the first inquest and ordered a new one before a different coroner, saying that new evidence cast doubt on the original verdice.
They said that a fresh investigation might cause "distress" to the judge's family, but said: "Nonetheless, we have concluded that it would be contrary to the interests of justice to leave undisturbed, in a case which has been the subject of wide public interest, a verdict which is based on only part of the relevant evidence - and which the balance of the relevant evidence suggests may be open to doubt."
The High Court said that there was "not a shred of evidence" to support an unlawful killing verdict, but said that suicide was still a possible verdict and justified a new investigation.
(KMcA)
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