BySimon Rocker, Simon Rocker
Representatives of London's strictly Orthodox community have dismissed claims of hounding a coroner in a long-running dispute over autopsies.
Mary Hassell, senior coroner for Inner North London, was reported by the Mail on Sunday to have written to Camden Council asking for protection from "bullying, intimidation and the threat of violence".
Twice last year the relatives of elderly Orthodox Jews who died won court injunctions against Ms Hassell to prevent postmortems that involved cutting open the body and instead to have the procedure done by scan. Jews and Muslims have also complained about the coroner because of delays in releasing bodies for burial.
Ms Hassell reportedly cited an instance where police were called after 60 Orthodox Jews refused to let undertakers remove a body.
In a statement, the strictly Orthodox Adass Yisroel Burial Society rejected the intimidation claims and said the coroner had "turned up the level of confrontation" by making them.
● Camden council said this week that a pan-London out-of-hours coroners' service would start next month, which should help with the swifter release of bodies for burial.