Clause 8
6:00 pm
Bridget Prentice (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Lewisham East, Labour)
The reason why we have put in six, seven, eight or nine jurors is to give some discretion to the senior coroner—although it will be likely that the chief coroner will issue a practice direction suggesting that they should generally start with nine jurors. The idea is that if a juror fails to turn up or one becomes ill in the course of a case, it can still go on. It may be that some potential juror turns out to be disqualified when questioned by the coroner. That might partly be the answer to the hon. and learned Gentleman’s question.