Jewish society demands removal of London coroner for delaying burials

A Jewish burial service in Britain has called for a senior coroner to be removed from office for causing “anguish and trauma” to a number of families who have complained about delayed Jewish burials.

The Adath Yisroel Burial Society (AYBS) made an official complaint against Mary Hassell, the senior coroner for inner north London at the St. Pancras office, The Guardian reported Sunday.

“Many of her imposed rules, bureaucracy, inflexibility and unnecessary delays offend traditional and/or religious practices,” said the AYBS in its complaint.

According to both Jewish and Islamic law, bodies of the deceased must be buried as soon as possible after death, ideally on the same day.

The burial society added that it will demand a judicial review this month unless the coroner retracts her new protocol, which amount to “a blanket and disproportionate refusal to respect religious beliefs that require speedy burial,” the report added.

The London-based Jewish Chronicle reported in December that one woman made 210 phone calls to the St. Pancras coroner’s office in central London before being assured that her father would be buried four days after his death.

Hassell told the family of Barry Davis last month that it would be two weeks before an autopsy could be performed and a funeral held. Several other similar cases have been reported.

Hassell also asserted in a letter to Jewish community leaders that “no death will be prioritized in any way over any other because of the religion of the deceased or family, either by coroner’s officers or coroners.”

She added in the letter that she would no longer allow Jewish bodies to be held at a local Jewish funeral home to enable shemirah, the practice of “guarding” the body by fellow Jews until burial, instead of at the mortuary.

In 2015, Hassell lost a judicial review brought by the family of an Orthodox Jewish woman. Hassell’s office had insisted that the woman have an invasive autopsy, which is against Orthodox law. The following year, Hassell was formally reprimanded by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office for publicizing a letter in which she alleged that she was being bullied by the Jewish community.

Asher Gratt of the AYBS was quoted in The Guardian as saying Hassell had caused “immense anguish, stress and trauma” to bereaved members of the community. “We have full respect for others who want a quick burial. But most families in the UK prefer to take some time before the closure of a funeral. For Jews, mourning cannot start until after burial.”

Gratt denied that members of the Jewish community had bullied Hassell’s staff, but acknowledged that bereaved relatives had sometimes been “forced to make multiple phone calls at a time when they are desperate and so may become frustrated.”

Hassell’s office said she was unable to comment, the report added.