A CORONER has said funerals are being delayed and family viewings of bodies cancelled since Essex County Council took over inquests.

It took over management from the police in 2008 and Essex Coroner Dr Peter Dean raised concerns at the time about the move.

He said the process of arranging a post-mortem examination and releasing a body has slowed down “markedly”.

Arrangements for inquests in Southend, Basildon, Castle Point and Rochford used to be dealt with at the former Hadleigh police station, in Hall Crescent, which acted as a local point of contact for families and funeral directors. This has now been moved to Chelmsford.

Dr Dean told BBC Radio 4’s Between Ourselves programme: “As a result of those delays, funerals were delayed and on occasions families’ viewings of bodies were cancelled. I warned about this before the closure. Those warnings were not heeded and I’ve been raising those problems since.”

Essex county councillor John Jowers, responsible for localism and planning, said the new system was saving taxpayers money. He said: “We have to do as good a job as we can within the financial constraints and if things are going wrong we have to look very closely and see what we can do about it.”