'Yellow vest' protesters condemned for storming London coroner's court

Chief coroner says staff should be able to do their job ‘without attack or intimidation’ after five activists arrested

The chief coroner of England and Wales has denounced a group of “yellow vest” protesters who were arrested after storming a coroner’s court in west London.

Mark Lucraft QC was “very troubled to hear of the attack” and claimed coroners should be free to do their job without intimidation.

Five right-wing activists forced entry to senior coroner Chinyere Inyama’s office in Fulham on Thursday, live-streaming the stunt online.

In a video viewed almost 20,000 times by Thursday evening, the coroner remains silent as he is criticised by the group. At one point during the footage an apparent struggle erupts between a protester and a member of court staff.

The Metropolitan Police said four men and one woman had been arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass and taken to a west London police station before being bailed until early May.

“The chief coroner was very troubled to hear of the attack on the coroner’s court in west London,” said a spokesman for Judge Lucraft.

“Coroners are judicial office holders carrying out important public duties and they, along with their officers and other staff, must be allowed to deal with cases and make independent judicial decisions without attack or intimidation from anyone - whatever their interests or motivations.”

The protest related to the deaths of three teenage boys who were hit by a car as they walked to a 16th birthday party.

Jaynesh Chudasama was jailed last year after pleading guilty to causing the deaths of semi-professional footballer Harry Rice, 17, apprentice electrician George Wilkinson, 16, and labourer Josh McGuinness, 16, by dangerous driving.

The car hire worker was more than two-and-a-half times the legal limit for alcohol and doing 71mph on a 60mph road in Hayes, west London, when he ploughed into the teenagers. His 13-year prison term was cut to 10-and-a-half years by three judges at the Court of Appeal in London.

Josh’s mother, Tracy Blackwell, was one of the group filmed at West London Coroner’s Court on Thursday, demanding an inquest and criticising the way Mr Inyama had dealt with the case.

Officers were called to the building in Bagley’s Lane at around 2.40pm to reports that “a number of people had forced entry to the building and had refused to leave when asked by security staff”.

It comes after protesters wearing yellow vests tried to storm the Attorney General’s office in a similar incident last month.

Footage live-streamed on social media showed supporters sitting in stairwells, shouting on loudspeakers and criticising the police as alarms could be heard ringing out.

That protest followed a chaotic court appearance at Westminster Magistrates’ Court where James Goddard denied harassing pro-Remain MP Anna Soubry.

Additional reporting by PA