29/03/04 - Coroner calls time after 43 years in post

A Coroner is retiring after serving the people of Cumbria for more than 40 years.

Cyril Prickett was appointed Deputy Coroner for then South Westmorland in 1961. He became Coroner for the South Cumbria district during local government reorganisation in 1974 and has been in post ever since.

Now, at the age of 77, he has decided to call it a day and will be working his last duty on March 31st.

Cyril decided to make a career in law after being turned down on medical grounds for two banking jobs. The former Kendal Grammar School pupil qualified as a solicitor in 1950 and soon became a senior partner in the firm where he was working – C.G Thomson & Wilson.

Since he started working for the Coroners’ Service 43 years ago he has overseen an estimated 1,700 inquests and has witnessed first hand the devastating effect that bereavement has on relatives and friends.

He said:

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a labourer’s wife, son or daughter or a company director – the grief is always the same. The death of a loved one, especially when sudden and unexpected, is always a tragedy and the heartache it causes is one of those things that I have seen time and time again.

“A coroner is a very important person to grieving families who want to find out exactly what caused their loved one to die, and for that reason my job has been immensely satisfying. Sometimes I have been able to provide the answers to the many questions that families have.”

Of all the inquests Mr Prickett has dealt with, the one that sticks in his mind as being the most tragic is when a family from Lancaster was killed in a car crash. The mother, father, their three young children and two young children from next door were all killed when their car overturned near a level crossing at Staveley.

“That was a very traumatic time and definitely the worst incident I have had to deal with. But it illustrates perfectly why coroners are so important – here was a tragedy of immense proportion and there were many questions that needed answering. It was my job to do just that and in a way bring some sort of sense to what seems so senseless.”

Cyril will be replaced by Ian Smith, currently Coroner for the Furness district. He is a member of the Northern Coroners’ Society – where Cyril was Chair for more than 20 years– and will be taking on a new district created by merging Furness with the South Cumbria district.

It is Home Office policy to amalgamate Coroners’ districts which have a small annual caseload and this has been given a further push by the publication of the Luce report. The South Cumbria area has the smallest caseload in the County, and the moves by the County Council and the Home Office to go ahead with the amalgamation means that from April 1Cumbria will now have three Coroners’ districts – South Cumbria and Furness, Western and North Eastern.

The Coroners’ service for both the Kendal and Barrow areas will continue at their current high standards. Inquests will still be held in both towns so the public will not be disadvantaged by having to travel longer distances.

Cyril, a widower and father of two, now plans to devote more time to follow his passions of horse racing and watching Kendal Rugby Club.