By Carole Dennett
These are the personal experiences of the IW Coroner service, of just two of the people that have contacted MP Joe Robertson. We thank Mo and Sinead them for being willing to tell their stories publicly.
If you would like to share your thoughts in confidence, then call us on 221050 – press option 1 and your call will be redirected to a mobile phone if the office is closed. Or you can email newsdesk@iwobserver.co.uk. We will put together a file that we will send to the Chief Coroner.
Sinead Jackson
Rosie Johnson, 22, an employee at the PGL Little Canada activity centre, near Wootton, disappeared in June 2019. After a major search, her body was found hanging in woodland five days later. An inquest held two years later concluded she had taken her own life, troubled by an upcoming meeting over bullying allegations and a recent relationship breakup.
Sinead Jackson, 36, from Limerick, describes her treatment during Rosie’s inquest as traumatic and deeply unjust.
Close to Rosie — who she described as a ‘soulmate’ – Sinead had raised concerns about her friend’s declining mental health and felt she was trying to protect her. Yet during the inquest, she says, she was treated not as a witness but as a scapegoat. She alleges that the coroner, Caroline Sumeray, conducted what felt like a “witch hunt” using closed questions, shouting at her, and implying she bore some responsibility for Rosie’s death.
Held on-line due to Covid, the inquest left Sinead feeling silenced and alone. Attempts to discuss the bullying she believed Rosie had endured were, she says, shut down.
She had no legal support, while the company had well-funded legal representation. When her aunt phoned to offer her some comfort and support, she was just told to hang up. She was unable to remain on the line until the end of the hearing as she was so upset at being made to feel that she was in some way responsible for her friend’s death.
After contacting the coroner’s office for clarification on some issues the day after the inquest, Sinead says she was stunned when four Gardaí (Irish police) then arrived at her home. Already fragile, the whole experience triggered a mental health emergency and she was taken to a hospital crisis centre.
She believes the inquest not only re-traumatised her but silenced Rosie’s voice. She fears Rosie’s family may have been left thinking she was at fault, despite her desperate efforts to seek help for her friend. Her trust in the UK justice system, she says, has been “completely destroyed.”
Despite the ordeal, Sinead has since found the strength to continue to advocate for change, including whistleblowing to Ofsted about conditions at PGL centres.
Now, she says, “I wish somebody had the courage to call it out.” She has nothing but praise for MP Joe Robertson for the way in which he is trying to bring the issues with the IW Coroner into the public domain.
Mo Gibson
More than 800 days after the tragic death of Nichola ‘Nicky’ Merrick, her family and long-term partner, Mo Gibson, remain in limbo – grieving and waiting for closure that never seems to come.
Nicky, who took her own life on Culver Down on 20th or 21st April 2023, left behind letters for Mo, her parents and her sister – messages of love and comfort – her goodbyes to those who meant the most to her. But those final words, meant to bring solace and offer some explanations for her action, still have not been formally delivered. It was only thanks to the compassion of a police officer, who photographed the letters on his personal phone and shared them, that Nicky’s family was able to read her last thoughts. Without that act of kindness, her words would still be locked away, unread by those who needed them most.
As far as Mo knows, the car Nicky was driving remains where it fell. It was certainly still there in February this year, with some people swimming out and ghoulishly removing items, something Mo believes puts them at personal risk. Certainly, over the first few weeks he walked the beach daily, picking up personal items that belonged to Nicky, desperate to stop them falling into strangers’ hands. The police have told him that the coroner could have ordered the car’s removal very quickly – but it was something else that just didn’t happen.
The inquest process, overseen by coroner Caroline Sumeray, has been marked by delays and decisions Mo describes as insensitive, uncaring and, he says, even feeling like bullying. There has been no suggestion of criminality by any of Nicky’s loved ones, yet, by order of the coroner, Mo, a skilled laser engineer whose work and clients are mainly based in Asia, is unable to travel. He has been left with no paid work, facing mounting financial pressure and the very real threat of losing his home.
The only time that the coroner has contacted him directly, was in February of this year, when he says she phoned him out of the blue while he was in a supermarket, demanding that he pass on a detailed message to somebody else. She refused then even to tell him which year Nicky’s inquest would take place.
Perhaps most painful of all, Mo says he was instructed not to speak to Nicky’s family about her death – something that has left him isolated at the time he most needed support. People who might have helped each other through their grief have been kept at arm’s length, struggling alone through their loss and the interminable wait for closure.
Despite his ordeal, Mo is thankful for the professionalism and kindness shown by the police and their promptly appointed suicide support counsellors. But he is calling for accountability from the Isle of Wight Coroner. He says he and Nicky’s family deserve more than silence and delay.
But Mo is speaking out now more for others than for himself. “Every day without answers is another day we can’t move forward,” he said. “Nobody deserves this and I fear more than anything that there may be more senseless loss of life – I’ve certainly come close to it at times.
“I’m not asking for special treatment – just that we and others are treated with the respect every grieving family deserves.”
It is hard to disagree with him.
IF YOU ARE FEELING UNABLE TO COPE OR SUICIDAL THEN CALL THE ISLAND’S SAMARITANS – 116 123 – free from any phone or 01983 524914 – local call charges apply.
