§ Mr. MullinTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will state the policy on the release to relations of autopsy reports on persons killed by the security forces; and if he will make a statement.
§ Dr. Mawhinney[holding answer 28 November 1991]: Rule 38 of the Coroners (Practices and Procedure) Rules (N.I.) 1963 provides that a coroner (who is an independent judicial officer) has a discretionary power to permit any person who, in his opinion, is a properly interested person to inspect the report of a post mortem examination. In addition, rule 37 confers a discretion on the coroner to provide a summary of a post mortem report to the deceased's medical practitioner.
I understand that many coroners in Northern Ireland make it their normal practice to release post mortem reports to relatives as soon as they become available. However, whether or not to allow access in a particular case is entirely a matter for the individual coroner concerned.