Forbury Gardens Terrorist Attack Inquests conclude – Simon Antrobus KC, Katie Sage and Annie Mackley represented Reading Borough Council throughout
The Judge Coroner, Sir Adrian Fulford, a former Lord Justice of Appeal, has now delivered his conclusions and findings of fact in the long running inquest into the ‘lone wolf’ terrorist attack that occurred at Forbury Gardens park in Reading, on 20 June 2020, which left three young men dead. The inquest into each death was heard at the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey throughout January and February of this year, hearing a range of evidence covering the central issues relating to: the attacker’s mental health treatment, the intelligence as to his extremist ideology and the response of the emergency services.
Simon Antrobus KC, Katie Sage and Annie Mackley represented Reading Borough Council in relation to matters concerning the conduct of its Mental Health Social Workers and the contact that team had with the attacker, Khairi Sadallah, over the years leading up to the attack. The Judge Coroner determined the inquest to be an enhanced “Article 2 inquest” and whilst his conclusion is that the deaths were probably avoidable in light of a series of findings of failure by state agencies, none of those failings are attributed to Reading Borough Council. No criticism is made of the local authority within the Judge Coroner’s conclusions or his findings of fact.
Simon Antrobus KC, Katie Sage and Annie Mackley were instructed by Emma Nicholls of DWF LLP and Mary Hampel (Reading BC legal services).
Jack Murphy represented South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (“SCAS”). Link to Jack’s article here.
Simon, Katie, Jack and Annie act in complex inquests, across a range of sectors, and on behalf of both state agencies and private companies. If you would like further information about instructing any of these members of our Chambers, please contact Toby Sparrow.
