The mother of a woman who took her own life when her benefits were stopped has a date for the start of new inquest to take place into her daughter’s death.
Joy Dove fought tirelessly to ensure her beloved daughter, Jodey Whiting, received the justice she believed she deserved.
In March, the Court of Appeal ordered that a second inquest should take place after new evidence came to light.
The heartbroken mother had been fighting for five years to have a coroner inspect the role that the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) could have had on the death of the 42-year-old.
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Ms Whiting, from Stockton, died in February 2017 around two weeks after her disability benefit was stopped when she did not attend a work capability assessment.
Now, a date for pre-inquest review has been set at Teesside Magistrates’ Court in November.
Speaking ahead of the hearing, Ms Dove said: “This has been a long, emotional, and determined campaign that I couldn’t have done without the support of my family.
“I am looking forward to the pre-inquest review as the start of the fresh inquest that we have fought for, long and hard. Hopefully we will get the answers to the questions that we have been asking for many years.”
Lady Justice Whipple, sitting with Lord Justice Lewis and Lord Justice William Davis, said in the ruling that a fresh inquest is “desirable in the interests of justice”.
The judge said the public has a “legitimate interest” in knowing whether Ms Whiting’s death was connected with the abrupt stopping of her benefits.
The coroner at the original inquest, which lasted 37 minutes, recorded a verdict of suicide.
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Merry Varney, a partner in law firm Leigh Day which has been fighting the case alongside Ms Dove, added: “It has been such a long journey to help Joy reach this point and finally she has the opportunity to ensure her much loved daughter’s death is fully and fearlessly investigated, including public scrutiny of the impact of flawed DWP decisions on Jodey, who was, due to disabilities, entirely reliant on welfare benefits for income.”
At the time of the DWP assessment, Jodey was housebound with pneumonia, had been in hospital, and had found out that she had a cyst on the brain.
After the Attorney General gave Joy permission to apply to the High Court for a second inquest, the High Court rejected her application, but did say “the withdrawal of Employment Support Allowance should not have happened”.
The High Court ruled that new evidence that had come to light did not require a fresh inquest in the interests of justice.
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