My Lords, I will address the two amendments in reverse order, starting with Amendment 292L. This creates a new offence of concealment of a body and repeals the existing offence of obstructing a coroner. As it stands, to obstruct or prevent a coroner’s investigation of any body found, when there is a duty to hold one, is to commit an offence. That offence is a common-law one, triable only on indictment, and carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The common-law offence is therefore wide-ranging. Proof of the offence does not require a person to conceal or attempt to conceal a body, or proof of a specific intent to obstruct a coroner—only that the coroner’s inquest is obstructed or prevented.
Amendment 292L replaces that wide-ranging offence that covers several ways in which a coroner is obstructed with a more narrowly defined offence which relates to obstruction by concealing a body or to facilitate another criminal offence. The specific offence proposed by the amendment also has a maximum penalty of three years—less than the life sentence that can be imposed under the current law. This approach, in our view, creates gaps in the coverage of the law compared with the existing common law and reduces the ability of the court to sentence for the full range of the offences.
We agree that concealing a body in this context should always be recognised by the law, and it already is in several ways. First, in the circumstances where an
offender is responsible for a homicide, the fact that they concealed or mutilated a body is a clear aggravating factor in sentencing. As a result, the sentence will be increased to reflect the additional harm caused. Noting what the noble and learned Lord, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, said about the increasing number of trials that take place without a body, we acknowledge that as forensic techniques have improved, so has the determination or ingenuity of the criminal to try to erase traces.
Secondly, where the concealment of a body is part of a course of action that includes the killing, the sentence for murder—or for manslaughter, I imagine—will include that aggravating factor in deciding on the starting point from which the sentence should be imposed.
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Thirdly, where an offender is convicted for murder or manslaughter and then considered for release by the Parole Board, the Prisoners (Disclosure of Information about Victims) Act 2020 may apply. That legislation was brought into being under the impetus of the campaign by Marie McCourt, to whom this side of the House joins the Benches opposite in paying tribute. That is where a person who has declined to disclose the whereabouts of a body goes before the Parole Board. As a result of that legislation, in such cases, the Parole Board must take into account any failure on the part of the offender to disclose the whereabouts of a victim’s remains as part of its assessment of the offender’s risk to the public.
For these reasons, the fact that this amendment will replace a wide-ranging common law offence with a more narrowly defined one with lesser sentencing powers and that concealment is already reflected as an aggravating factor in offences, the Government do not think that this new offence is necessary and cannot accept this amendment.
Amendment 292K seeks to deal with the desecration of a body. The meaning of acting
“with severe disrespect to a corpse”,
to use the language of the amendment—desecration—could, under the clause, include several circumstances such as mutilation, hiding or concealment, which could also lead to obstruction of the coroner, unlawful burial or cremation, or otherwise preventing the lawful burial of a body. It could also mean taking photographs of bodies where it is inappropriate or unnecessary so to do. We understand the sentiment behind this amendment and agree that it is paramount that the bodies of those who died should be treated with dignity and respect.
The amendment is, I think, designed to address the issue of where a person desecrates a corpse to avoid detection for an offence. As I have said in relation to the other amendment, the desecration of a body is thus likely to be connected to another offence and, as such, is also likely to amount to a clear aggravating factor in sentencing. It is hence liable to lead to the imposition of a more severe penalty. The criminal law can intervene by way of a number of offences that may apply, such as the common law offence of perverting the course of justice and others in statute, for example the disposal of a child’s body to conceal a pregnancy or burning a body other than in a crematorium.
Depending on the circumstances, other offences can include misconduct in public office where, for example, the offender is a police officer who came into contact with the body in the course of his duties.
However, we know that the offence proposed here is not limited to desecration that is connected to avoiding detection. It can cover a much wider range of inappropriate behaviours, including unauthorised photographs, causing injury to bodies and non-penetrative sexual activity. The Government have already announced an inquiry into the disturbing events that took place in Tunbridge Wells. I refer the Committee to the Statement on 8 November by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in the other place. We also specifically said that we would look at the existing penalties for the offence of sexual penetration of a corpse. It may be that those reviews will highlight other issues that need to be considered, including the coverage of existing offences that deal with desecration. In that sense, we see this amendment as a helpful starting point, even if it was not intended for that wider purpose.
I do not say that the Government will adopt the specific approach taken in this amendment, nor am I ruling out further future changes to the law on the desecration of a corpse after consideration of the evidence that emerges following recent events. I hope that the Committee acknowledges the ongoing work that is taking place to establish the facts to be learned from these recent events but that, given the reassurance that these matters are being considered, the noble Baroness feels able to withdraw her amendment.