Opinion

Elaine Byrne: Coroner’s Service needs reform to provide dignity to loved ones

A US hearing has shone a new light on the shortcomings of Ireland’s Coroner’s Service, which has been in need of review for over 20 years

Thomas and Molly Martens: The inadequacies identified in the autopsy and coroner’s reports into Margaret Corbett enabled the Martens defence team to put Jason Corbett on trial for her death

The eight-day sentencing hearing of Molly Martens and her father, Thomas Martens, in Lexington, North Carolina, for the killing of Limerick man Jason Corbett in 2015 unexpectedly shone a light on Ireland’s Coroner’s Service.

Earlier this month, three US medical experts testified that they disagreed with the findings of the autopsy report and coroner’s report from Limerick, which concluded that Jason Corbett’s first wife Margaret died of an asthma attack in 2006. Significantly, this included ...