DAVID CAMERON pledged yesterday to investigate a controversial North-East coroner after families complained of waiting months to find out how their loved ones died.

Speaking in the Commons, the Prime Minister said there was no excuse for a huge backlog of cases in Teesside because his government had put extra money into the coroners’ service.

The intervention heaped extra pressure on Michael Sheffield, whose performance is already being reviewed by the Office for Judicial Complaints.

Yesterday, Alex Cunningham, Labour MP for Stockton North, said bereaved families had put up with a poor service for long enough and called for the “incompetent Teesside coroner” to be sacked.

During Prime Minister’s Questions, he said: “Grieving families on Teesside are waiting many months, sometimes years, to have inquests into the deaths of their loved ones concluded.

“That is much longer than the wait anywhere else in the country. They have suffered enough. Will the Prime Minister stop the messing about and instruct the Justice Secretary to sack the incompetent Teesside coroner?”

In reply, Mr Cameron said: “I will certainly look at the particular case that the honourable gentleman raises.

"As he knows, we have been reforming coroner services and putting in money and resources to try to make them more effective, but I shall certainly take up the individual case that he makes.”

Mr Sheffield, 81, survived calls for his dismissal a decade ago and received a “severe reprimand” after an investigation in 2003.

After that lengthy review, inquests speeded up, but are now believed to be taking much longer again.

On average, families on Teesside have to wait more than 43 weeks for a verdict, when the national average is only 29 weeks. The backlog at the end of last year stood at 307 cases.

Last month, the Office for Judicial Complaints confirmed a fresh investigation had begun, after Hartlepool MP Iain Wright made a complaint.

A spokeswoman said: “The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice are aware of the complaint and have referred the matter to the Office for Judicial Complaints. An investigation is being carried out.”

MPs were told that if the inquiry finds Mr Sheffield guilty of misconduct, he could be given a formal warning or even removed from office.