West Sussex coroner and police working to bring UK victims of Ethiopian air crash home

Senior coroner for West Sussex Penelope Schofield has been appointed as the incident and co-ordinating coroner to deal with those British nationals who died in the Ethiopian air crash on Sunday (March 10).
Det Supt Stuart Hale and Penny Schofield. Photo: Sussex PoliceDet Supt Stuart Hale and Penny Schofield. Photo: Sussex Police
Det Supt Stuart Hale and Penny Schofield. Photo: Sussex Police

She is currently working with UK Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), alongside Detective Superintendent Stuart Hale from Sussex Police, to ensure that the UK nationals are formally identified and she will co-ordinate the repatriation of the bodies thereafter.

Ms Schofield is an experienced coroner and a trained member of the UK Disaster Victim Identification cadre of advisory coroners.

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All English and Welsh police forces form part of a rota that deals with incidents such as this that occur abroad and it was Sussex who were duty force at the time of the incident.

Several UK police officers, including one from Sussex, have been deployed to Ethiopia and are working alongside the Ethiopian authorities and international DVI teams to assist with this.

Family liaison officers from a number of forces are supporting victims’ families in the UK.

In accordance with normal practice for incidents overseas, Ms Schofield will in due course conduct an investigation into the deaths of the UK nationals who are repatriated.

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