Admin Court upholds Coroner’s decision not to leave critical findings to inquest jury – Kevin Baumber and Cecily White
18th December 2025
The Administrative Court (Foxton J) has upheld a Coroner’s decision not to leave critical findings against the police made by a Coroner investigating the circumstances in which Sabina Rizvi came by her death following a shooting near Bexleyheath police station in SE London. SR was shot and killed and her boyfriend gravely injured when gunmen shot at their car following a dispute with a local criminal, Paul Asbury, who was subsequently convicted of SR’s murder. The Court concluded, albeit at the permission stage, that the Coroner had applied the correct test for leaving findings of fact to a jury in an Article 2 inquest namely whether there was sufficient evidence to support them, applying the well known criminal authority of R v Galbraith [1981] 1 WLR 1039, not whether any such findings were arguable.
The judgment can be found here.
Kevin Baumber acted for the two principal police officers
Cecily White acted for the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis
Laura Bramall has written a blog about the case. See here.
Back to index