County's coroner to retire

11:20am Friday 2nd January 2009

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THE soon-to-be-formed Wiltshire Council will appoint the county's first full-time coroner when the present part-time incumbent retires in the spring.

David Masters, the Salisbury-based lawyer who has held the post since 1993, plans to step down at the end of March.

Mr Masters is approaching his 70th birthday.

A married man, he has two children and several grandchildren. He lives just over the Wiltshire border in Bourton, Dorset.

He has been a District Judge since before he took on the mantle of Wiltshire Coroner and may continue in that post after his retirement.

One of the first cases dealt with by Mr Masters was the death of six-year-old Sascha Finney and her three-year-old brother Adrian in a house fire in Brickley Lane, Devizes, in February 1993.

The fire broke out in the lounge and the 14-year-old babysitter fought valiantly to get the children out of the house but was beaten back by smoke and flames.

The bodies of the two children were later found on the floor of their bedroom.

Considering his workload has increased hugely and the number of cases dealt with by his department rose to 2,300 cases in 2007, Mr Masters has always been employed on a part-time basis.

Mr Masters’ workload increased massively when servicemen and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan were repatriated to RAF Lyneham and their deaths came under his jurisdiction.

Even before that, several landmark cases ended up on his desk, including the death in 1953 of RAF serviceman Ronald Maddison, who died after taking part, without his knowledge, in an experiment at Porton Down that involved his being exposed to the nerve gas Sarin.

Mr Maddison’s inquest, which Mr Masters opened in May 2004, brought in a verdict of unlawful killing in November that year.

Over the years, he has been assisted by a number of assistant and deputy coroners, but the lion’s share of the work has always been his.

At a meeting on December 16, the cabinet of Wiltshire County Council agreed to the appointment of a full-time coroner.

The coroner’s salary will be in the region of £86,000, compared with the £83,000 Mr Masters is currently paid for a 4.5-day week, although he can claim overtime for cases that take more than one full day in court.

A full-time coroner would not be able to claim overtime in the same way.

A report by Stephen Gerrard, solicitor to the council, said: “Changing the status to a full-time post would widen the pool from which candidates are likely to apply.

“It would allow the successful candidate to concentrate fully on coronial duties in Wiltshire and Swindon.”

Jane Scott, leader of Wiltshire County Council, which employs the coroner, said: “Our thanks in Wiltshire must go to David Masters for the very good job he has done over the years. ”