Slow response to Keyham is 'outrageous'

MP SLATES HOME OFFICE DELAY TO INQUEST FINDINGS

-  CARL EVE

PLYMOUTH'S Labour MP has called the Home Office's decision to delay its response to the Plymouth coroner's recommendations in the wake of the five-week-long Keyham inquest "outrageous".

Last week The Herald revealed the Home Office had not met the 56-day deadline set by Plymouth's senior coroner Ian Arrow, after he wrote a lengthy and detailed list of recommendations to the Home Secretary, the Policing Minister and Chief Constables across the country with the aim of preventing potential future deaths, underscored by his warning that there was "a risk that future deaths could occur unless action is taken".

Mr Arrow also highlighted that, as was fully explored during the inquest held at the Exeter Racecourse, there was a widely accepted recognition that the Firearms Act of 1968 "requires root and branch reform" to achieve better safeguards against a repeat of the Keyham shootings.