Original communication
Under-reporting of suicide in South Yorkshire (West): a retrospective study of suicide and open verdicts returned by HM Coroner, 1992–1997

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1353-1131(99)90203-1Get rights and content

Abstract

A retrospective study was performed using information obtained from HM Coroner for South Yorkshire (West) over the period 1992–1997. All inquests which received a suicide or open verdict were reviewed to investigate the regional suicide statistics and the actual number of cases. Particular attention was paid to the age, sex, mental health and mode of death. There were 295 deaths believed to be suicidal in nature. Of these only 79% had suicide verdicts given and these comprise the official statistics. Of the open verdicts, many were suggestive of suicide but the circumstances were insufficient for the Coroner to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of the victims intention to kill themselves. Males and females had the same proportion of verdicts (80 and 76% respectively).

Hanging was the commonest mode of suicide, (sex ratio 4.06 male: 1 female) and received a high percentage of suicide verdicts (81.5%). Self-poisoning was second but received suicide verdicts in only 66.3% of cases, whilst carbon-monoxide poisoning had a 98.1% rate of suicide verdict. Of the 295 cases, 202 decedents (88.5%) had a history of mental illness. Depression accounted for 153 cases (75.7%). Twelve decedents had psychotic illness (4%), one-half dying by jumping from a height.

Official national data may under-report the annual suicide rate by over 20%. Deaths from poisoning by solid or liquid and jumping from a height appear particularly difficult to establish as suicide in coronial practice, with one-third of cases declared an open verdict.

References (18)

  • Office of Population Census and Surveys (OPCS)

    Mortality Statistics: Cause

    (1992–1995)
  • Department of Health

    Our Healthier Nation

    (1998)
  • P Matthews et al.

    Jervis on coroners

    (1993)
  • R v Essex Coroner ex parte Hopper (unreported) Divisional Court, May 13th,...
  • PN Cooper et al.

    The Coroner's system and under-reporting of suicide

    Med Sci Law

    (1995)
  • I O'Donnell et al.

    The limitations of official suicide statistics

    Br J Psychiat

    (1995)
  • MC Bradley

    Changing patterns of suicide in Leeds, 1979 to 1985

    Med Sci Law

    (1987)
  • Denning J, Miller v Minister of Pensions (1947) 2 ALL ER...
  • R v Cardiff Coroner ex parte Thomas (1970) 3 ALL ER...
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (16)

  • Road traffic suicides

    2009, Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine
    Citation Excerpt :

    This figure is in keeping with data from elsewhere.4 However, given the difficulties in establishing exactly what was in the mind of the person who died, it must be acknowledged that this is necessarily only an approximate figure and it seems likely that as with deaths from high falls, this significantly underestimates the size of the problem.19,20 Apart from disguising suicide as an “accident”, it is interesting to consider why an individual might contemplate using a road traffic collision as a means of committing suicide.

  • Suicide in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

    2002, Journal of Clinical Forensic Medicine
  • Evidence for Underregistration of Suicide

    2020, Case Reports in Psychiatry
View all citing articles on Scopus
View full text