A CORONER will soon decide whether a jury will be called upon at the inquest of a woman murdered in Andover.
Lucy-Anne Rushton, known as Lucy, was found dead in her Suffolk Road home in the early hours of the morning of June 23, 2019.
Ms Rushton’s estranged husband, Shaun Dyson, was charged with her murder. He initially entered a plea of manslaughter but later pleaded guilty to the murder of the mother-of-five.
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He was sentenced to life in prison serving a minimum of 17 years in December 2019.
The court at his Winchester trial heard that in the year prior to her murder, Ms Rushton was subjected to serious physical assaults at the hands of Dyson, which were reported to Dorset and Hampshire police.
After Dyson’s conviction, the area coroner for Hampshire initially decided against continuing an inquest into her death.
However, after her family called for a judicial review, it was decided that the inquest would be resumed.
On Friday, September 1, a pre-inquest review was held remotely at the Suffolk Coroner’s Court in Ipswich, with coroner Darren Stewart presiding.
Mr Stewart, a former coroner for Hampshire, explained that owing to the “significant” backlog of cases in Hampshire, he would continue to oversee the case despite his move to Suffolk earlier in the year.
Mr Stewart said that a full inquest into Ms Rushton’s death was expected to take place between March and June next year. However, if he chose to exercise his discretion to consult a jury, this was likely to be delayed even further, a delay which, he said “weighs considerably on my mind”.
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However, Jack Boswell, counsel for Ms Rushton’s family, said that it was their wish that a jury be called.
A jury, he said, would be able to assist the coroner in his investigation as to whether inaction by the police had contributed to Ms Rushton’s death.
Specifically, they could help in re-examining an incident which occurred at a hotel in Bournemouth and disclosures made by Ms Rushton’s children at school.
Mr Stewart invited all interested parties to make submissions to him over the next month and said that he would make a ruling on the use of the jury at the next hearing.
The next pre-inquest review is expected to take place in early December.
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