Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that bereaved families are able to retrieve a note or letter written by an individual who has died by suicide.

Any death which is suspected to have been a suicide must be reported for investigation by the coroner. If a note or letter has been left by the deceased person, this should be provided to the coroner by the police and must be admitted as evidence if the coroner considers that the content of the document is relevant to the inquest into the person’s death.

Rule 13 of the Coroners (Inquests) Rules 2013 provides that, (subject to a limited number of exceptions) where an interested person (which would include the bereaved family) requests the disclosure of a document held by the coroner, the coroner must provide the document, or a copy of it, or make the document available for inspection by the interested person as soon as reasonably practicable.