Girls' inquest suspension a 'double-edged sword'
Family handoutsThe suspension of inquests for two girls who died at a "chaotic and unsafe" mental health hospital is a "double-edged sword", one of their families said.
Christie Harnett and Nadia Sharif were both 17 when they died in 2019 while patients at West Lane Hospital in Middlesbrough, with their deaths leading to its closure soon after.
Their inquests were due to be held in November but on Wednesday County Durham and Darlington coroner Crispin Oliver suspended them pending the outcome of a promised government inquiry.
Christie's family said the suspension left them in "limbo" awaiting "justice", but it was "good and bad news".
Families had pushed for a public inquiry into failings at the Tees, Esk and Wear Valley (TEWV) NHS Trust, which ran West Lane Hospital as well as other sites across County Durham and Teesside, with then-health secretary West Streeting announcing in December 2025 one would be held.
Seven months on a secretary has been appointed but there is still no chair, who will likely be a senior judge, or terms of reference, the coroner said in a short hearing in Crook, County Durham.
Oliver said the public inquiry's remit would "likely be far wider" than that of an inquest and there was "generally no public interest in the duplication of inquiries".
But he said if there was "no progress towards" the public inquiry "within a reasonable time", he would consider resuming the inquest.
Speaking outside the court after the coroner made his ruling, Christie's father Michael Harnett said the suspension was "horrible" and prolonged their already seven-year wait for answers, but it was also "good and bad news".
Family handoutHer grandmother Casey Tremain said the suspension was "hard to take" but it was a "double-edged sword".
She said: "If [the girls' deaths are] included as part of the public inquiry then more information could come to light, a higher level of information could come to light, so we see why the coroner has suspended this now.
"We've been in limbo for seven years now.
"Initially we were hoping the [inquest] would happen in November so we were preparing ourselves for some form of resolution, which is now not going to happen."
Christie, from Newton Aycliffe, died in June 2019 and Nadia, from Middlesbrough, in August, shortly before the Care Quality Commission (CQC) ordered the hospital to be closed.
An inquest into a third patient and friend of Christie's, 18-year-old Emily Moore, is under way, and has heard the hospital was "chaotic and unsafe" and potentially harmed the young patients more.
Christie's grandmother said the wait for answers for all the families affected was "disheartening", but added: "We are absolutely not going to stop, because justice is needed for all of these deaths."