Page 54 - When Things Go Wrong

immunities in order to encourage cooperation and learning. 143 This dictates a
degree of separation between investigators where suspicion arises.

3.22 However, subject to data protection, there is nothing preventing the migration
of prosecution material to other investigations once the criminal process
concludes. We recommend that where an inquest, inquiry or other form of
investigation follows a concluded criminal trial, investigators should
consider whether the witness statement (including the victim impact
statement) of a bereaved person used at trial might be sufficient to serve
as that person’s evidence for the purposes of the investigation. 144 We would
add that where such an arrangement is possible, the bereaved person should be
consulted as to whether they wish to provide a further statement in any event.

Early participation of bereaved people and survivors

3.23 As Dame Elish Angiolini noted in her Review:

It is the immediate aftermath of a death that marks “the point of the
process, more than any other, when families are in urgent need of advice,
support and information about their rights, and the processes that will
ensue over the coming days and months. Unfortunately, it is also the point
at which families will be in a state of shock, confusion and grief. 145

Yet evidence from our consultees supports our experience that the participation
of bereaved people is stymied from the very start.

143 This is not to suggest that the grant of an immunity or undertaking will always be appropriate. The
Working Party recognises, for example, the controversy caused by the Attorney General’s grant of
undertakings in Phase II of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. However, we have received no evidence in
favour of wholesale reform in this area. Where this issue was raised, it was typically in the context of
sequencing of investigations (see Chapter II, paras 2.78-2.80) or institutional defensiveness (see
Chapter IV, paras 4.32-4.34). For a helpful guide to the law on undertakings from the Attorney General
in public inquiries, see David Barr QC, Kate Wilkinson and Victoria Ailes, ‘Counsel to the inquiry’s
note on undertakings’ (Undercover Policing Inquiry, 8 January 2016)
144 We were informed of at least one death in custody case where this decision was taken, although it is
not currently common practice.

145 Angiolini, supra note 15, para 15.8.
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