Olivia Perks Inquest

I have the privilege of acting for and representing the maternal family of Olivia Perks.  At the time of her death, Olivia was training as an Officer Cadet at Sandhurst and was well liked and thought of by her peers.  Unfortunately, she took her own life on 6 February 2019.

My firm was initially approached by Olivia’s mother as she had and still has serious concerns about her daughter’s death.  Since I was instructed, the MOD have conducted a Service Inquiry into the circumstances of Olivia’s death and this report has recently been published.

Olivia’s death is also being investigated by the Coroner and an Inquest is due to take place in April 2023. An inquest is a public court hearing for the coroner, sometimes with a jury, to decide who died, how, when and where the death happened. In some circumstances, Article 2 will be triggered and the coroner can also look into how the person came to their death. I recently wrote a blog exploring how Article 2 and the Human Rights Act can assist the inquest process and this can be found here.

Olivia’s death has received much media attention and both the Times and the Telegraph have reported on the Service Inquiry Report.

Olivia’s maternal family have released the following statement in relation to her death:

‘Nothing can compare to the pain my clients have experienced, and continue to live with, having lost Olivia.  They welcome any inquiry by the MoD which may shed more light on Olivia’s death, but still have a number of concerns and questions that they hope will be addressed as part of the inquest process. They respect the duty the Coroner has to investigate Olivia’s death, and so will not be making any further comments until this process has concluded.’

The Inquest will be an opportunity for Olivia’s family to understand what happened and get further answers.  My client’s main priority is for a full investigation to take place and for lessons to be learned so that another family does not have to go through what they have experienced.