Jodey Whiting: Mother's new bid for fresh inquest in benefits death

The mother of a vulnerable woman who took her own life when her benefits were stopped has begun a new legal bid to get a second inquest into her death.

Jodey Whiting, 42, died in 2017, days after payments were halted because she missed a work capability assessment.

Her mum, Joy Dove, wanted a coroner to examine the role the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had played.

Last month the High Court rejected Ms Dove's claim but she has now begun an appeal against that decision.

An application for permission to appeal its judgment not to grant a second inquest has been lodged on the grounds it would be in the public interest, legal firm Leigh Day said.

The original inquest in the death of Ms Whiting, who lived in Stockton-on-Tees, lasted just 37 minutes and concluded she had taken her own life.

She had received disability benefits for more than 10 years due to physical and mental health issues and history of self-harm.

After she missed an assessment meeting, her employment and support allowance was ended which led to her housing benefit and council tax benefit also being terminated.

Ms Whiting had told the DWP she was in hospital and had not received a letter about the assessment.

Ms Dove later found the unopened letter at her daughter's home.

The DWP's decision to terminate Ms Whiting's benefits was overturned five weeks after her death.

An inquiry found there were significant errors by staff for which the department had to apologise and pay £10,000 in compensation.

On 17 September, High Court judges ruled the original inquest was sufficient and it would not be in the interests of justice to hold a new one.

However, Ms Dove said: "I can't accept that the first inquest into Jodey's death was a thorough investigation into the reasons.

"I believe that there should be a proper and full look at the way that she was let down by the DWP and that the public need to know what went wrong there.

"For Jodey's sake, I have to appeal the refusal to grant us a second inquest."

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