In other words, the coroner or jury should not fail to reach a positive conclusion merely because there is some doubt on some minor point.
[5]In an obiter dictum (legal opinion not forming part of the judgment) in the case of R v West London Coroner, ex parte Gray[6] in 1986, the divisional court stated that the open verdict was, as with the verdicts of unlawful killing and suicide, required to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
The police discovered Evans' body in his living room after going to the house to tell him they had recovered his stolen car which had been reported missing the day before.
The families of the victims have long believed that the fire was started deliberately, possibly as a racist attack, and the verdict was interpreted as a rejection of that theory.
[14] The inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot dead in 2005 by Metropolitan Police officers who mistakenly believed him to be a suicide bomber, returned an open verdict in December 2008.
[16] The death of Bob Woolmer, an English cricket coach, on 18 March 2007 while coaching Pakistan during the World Cup was given an open verdict on 28 November 2007, with the inquest after hearing from more than 50 witnesses over five weeks being unable to determine whether his death was due to murder, natural causes or an accident.