Learning lessons from brutal death

LAST year, the cartoonist Richard Horne (known as 'Harry Horse') and his wife, Mandy, died at their home on Shetland, in what was reported to be a suicide pact. Mrs Horne had been suffering from MS. The couple's family and friends believed she and her husband had decided to end their lives together. But it now transpires that Horne killed his wife with two knives, one of which broke inside her body. He also killed their dog and cat before stabbing himself 47 times.

None of these facts came out at the time because the Crown Office decided that there was no need to hold a public fatal accident inquiry (FAI). Under English law, a coroner must hold an inquest if a death is violent or unnatural. In Scotland, the Cro...