Chairman
His Honour Judge Teague KC
His Honour Judge Teague KC was called to the Bar by Inner Temple in 1977. He was appointed an Assistant Recorder in 1993, a Recorder in 1997 and Queen’s Counsel in 2000. In 2006 he was appointed a Circuit Judge and is assigned to the Northern Circuit.
In 2015 he was appointed as an assistant coroner to undertake an inquest into the death of Anthony Grainger and on the 17 March 2016, the Home Secretary announced her decision to convert the inquest into an inquiry and appointed Judge Teague KC as Chairman.
On the 22 December 2020, the Lord Chief Justice appointed Judge Teague KC, as the third Chief Coroner of England and Wales and he remained as Chief Coroner until his retirement in 2024.
In November 2021, the Lord Chief Justice nominated Judge Teague KC as Coroner in the inquest into the death of Jalal Uddin. And on the 9 November 2023, the Home Secretary announced her decision to convert the inquest into a public inquiry and appointed Judge Teague KC as Chairman of the Inquiry.
Counsel to the Inquiry
Jason Beer KC
Jason Beer KC is the Head of 5 Essex Chambers and sits as a Deputy High Court Judge (King’s Bench and Chancery Divisions) and as a Recorder of the Crown Court. He has a multi-disciplinary background specialising in public inquiries, inquests, public law and police law. Jason has considerable experience of leading teams of counsel in complex and sensitive investigations and inquiries. Before taking Silk, he was Junior Counsel to the Crown.
Sophie Cartwright KC
Sophie Cartwright KC was called to the Bar in 1998 following a criminal pupillage. Sophie previously acted as Counsel to the Manchester Arena Inquiry and the Anthony Grainger Inquiry, she is also one of the KC team of Counsel to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and is leading Counsel to the Andrew Malkinson Inquiry.
Sophie specialises in public inquiries, inquests (including regularly acting as Counsel to the Inquest), public law, regulatory and disciplinary proceedings. Sophie is Co-Chair of the Greater Manchester Pro Bono Committee; the Northern Circuit Pro Bono representative and a member of the Attorney General’s Pro Bono Committee. Sophie sits as a Recorder in the Crown Court and as an Assistant Coroner. She is also a Master of the Bench at Inner Temple.
Solicitors to the Inquiry
Tim Suter
Tim Suter is a partner at Fieldfisher LLP, and has been appointed as Solicitor to the Inquiry. He has extensive experience of advising on independent inquiries, investigations and inquests. Tim recently acted as the solicitor to Manchester Arena Inquiry. He has also previously acted as solicitor to the Hillsborough Inquests and Birmingham 1974 pub bombings Inquests and as deputy solicitor to the inquests into the London Bombings of 7 July 2005 and the public inquiry into the death of the Russian dissident, Alexander Litvinenko. He has also been appointed as Solicitor to the Thirwall Inquiry for its set up phase.
Laura Taylor
Laura Taylor is a Director at law firm Fieldfisher. She has over a decade of experience working in the field of public inquests and inquiries and has most recently acted as deputy Solicitor to the Inquiry on the Manchester Arena Inquiry and Module Lead Solicitor on Module 2 of the Covid-19 Inquiry. Laura has previously worked on the Hillsborough Inquests, the Birmingham 1974 Pub Bombing Inquests, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the Undercover Policing Inquiry and for a Core Participant to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. She has a particular focus in advising on and managing disclosure in large scale, complex and multi-party investigations.
Secretary to the Inquiry
Sue Curran
Sue Curran held a senior management position in Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service as Delivery Director for the Greater Manchester Civil & Family and Tribunal Courts. In 2014 she joined the Hillsborough Inquests’ Secretariat and in 2016 was appointed as Secretary to the Anthony Grainger Inquiry. In 2019, Sue was appointed Head of Operations to the Manchester Arena Inquiry, in addition to advising the secretariat on the Jermaine Baker Inquiry.