Jodey Whiting: Wait almost over for inquest fight mum
A woman who campaigned for a second inquest into the death of her daughter, who killed herself after her benefits were cut, is finally due to hear the evidence she fought for.
Joy Dove is sitting on a sofa clutching a Mother's Day card. It is the last one her daughter Jodey Whiting gave her before she died."She wrote it as an adult, but it sounds like she was a kid, " she says. "If you look, it has 'to the best Mum in the world ever' and she's underlined it. 'I love you so much, you're my inspiration'."I ask if she believes she still is an inspiration. "I hope I can be," she replies.
Her family think so. At 71, the great-grandmother is preparing for the latest stage of her long fight for justice which started more than eight years ago when she walked into her daughter's flat and found her dead.A coroner ruled it was suicide, but Ms Dove says the events leading up to that moment were never properly taken into account.
It all began in 2016 when Ms Whiting, from Stockton, was admitted to hospital with pneumonia. Doctors then found a cyst on her brain. When she was finally discharged, her mother found a letter that had been put to one side in her daughter's flat. She opened it and saw it was from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)."It asked Jodey why she hadn't attended a medical assessment, because it could affect her money, but she'd been in hospital," Ms Dove explains. "We waited for another letter and I couldn't believe it. It said 'you're fit to work'. "She looked at me and said 'Mam, what am I going to do? I can't walk out the door, I can't breathe, I can't sign on'."
Listen to Jodey's story on BBC Sounds
Ms Whiting's Employment Support Allowance was stopped. "She was just eating soup and stuff," says Ms Dove. "The Citizens' Advice Bureau had given her a food bank letter and she was keeping herself warm with coats and things like that."Two weeks after the benefit ended, the 42-year-old killed herself.
Ms Dove could never accept the fact that no evidence relating to the DWP decision was heard at the original inquest, which lasted for 37 minutes. So, the pensioner started her legal fight.In 2020, the Attorney General gave her permission to apply for a second inquest but a High Court hearing dismissed her application. She then asked if she could appeal against that decision but was refused. In November 2021, she asked the Court of Appeal for permission to apply for a second inquest. Almost a year later it was granted. Then, in March 2023, judges ruled a second inquest should take place.Now, after a five-year process, the wait is finally over. An inquest that will hear evidence from the DWP is due to start on Monday.
"It's been such a long wait," says Ms Dove. "It's now come back to where it all began. "The coroner has said it will be a full and thorough inquest and I'm hoping for the best, not just for Jodey's sake but for the whole family, especially the young ones who don't really know what the past few years have been like. "Hopefully, they'll understand it more."Faced with the prospect of giving evidence at the hearing, she says: "I'm anxious, but I just want justice for Jodey."
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