Inquests & Public Inquiries
Mark was appointed as an Assistant Coroner for North Yorkshire and York in October 2025.
Mark regularly attends inquests on behalf of all properly interested parties and in particular NHS Trusts, surgeons, care homes, care staff, RTA insurers, and employers. Mark has often represented mental health trusts and has a clear understanding of issues relating to detention under the Mental Health Act.
He has particular experience in relation to deaths occurring in hospital and in custody and in a care home setting. He has detailed knowledge of the systems and procedures operated in hospitals and prisons and the health care arrangements pertaining to both organisations.
Mark has been involved in several inquests involving the implications of surgical procedures and the consequences of the MRSA virus. He has regularly dealt with deaths arising as a result of sepsis.
He has experience of appearing before juries at inquests and has a particular interest in the issue of neglect arising from the lack of appropriate medical treatment.
Mark has considerable experience in dealing with Article 2/ ‘Middleton’ inquests and the scope of the inquiry to be undertaken to satisfy the requirements of the Human Rights Act.
Selected Cases
- Acting for a care home in relation to the death of an employee from the consequences of the COVID-19 virus.
- Acting for a national care provider in relation to a death resulting from a rare cancer of the lymphatic system.
- Acting for a care home in relation to death occurring due to an unwitnessed fall or a resident.
- Acting for a housing association in an Article 2 inquiry following the manslaughter of a tenant.
- Mark acted for a primary care trust in an article 2 inquest involving a prisoner who had received an overdose of oral chemotherapy drugs following his attendance at hospital. Mark represented the PCT which provided health care services in the prison. A jury heard four weeks of evidence relating to the systems in place for the prescribing, dispensing, storage and control of oral chemotherapy drugs. The inquest involved extensive submissions in relation to the scope of the inquiry, the evidence to be presented to the jury and the potential conclusions.
- A three week inquest relating to a death of a resident in a care home from sepsis which had arisen due to an infected pressure ulcer. Mark acted for a team of district nurses who had provided care.
- Acting for a care home in a week long jury inquest involving a resident who had died by choking on her food as a result of the progressive consequences of vascular dementia.
- Mark has been involved in two jury inquests involving the use of medical equipment in a care home setting.
- Acting for two paramedics in a four week jury inquest relating to a death caused by taking illicit drugs. The death occurred in custody and it involved complex issues of causation requiring the expert input of two Home Office Pathologists.
- Acting for a care home in relation to the death of a resident from a bowel obstruction.
- He has also been instructed to represent private and NHS hospitals in relation to deaths occurring following procedures such as heart transplant surgery, hip and other orthopaedic operations. He has experience in dealing with the consequences of deep vein thrombosis.
News
- Mark Armitage appointed as Assistant Coroner for North Yorkshire and York
- Fudge v Hawkins & Holmes Ltd & Others
Qualifications
- Downing College Cambridge
- MA (Cantab)
- LLM (Cantab)
- General Editor – Charlesworth & Percy on Negligence
- Assistant Coroner for North Yorkshire and York (October 2025)
- Visiting Lecturer at Inns of Court College of Advocacy (2025)
Memberships
Personal Injury Bar Association
