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Suzanne Greenaway resigned in November after questions were raised over her legal and medical experience.
By James Montgomery

Photo: Marc Broussely/ Redferns

The coroner who headed up the official inquest surrounding the death of Amy Winehouse has resigned, and a judicial investigation has been launched over her qualifications, raising concerns that the circumstances of the singer's death may need to be re-examined.

According to the British newspaper The Guardian, Suzanne Greenaway — the coroner who ruled in October that Winehouse died of "misadventure" — has become the subject of an investigation headed up by the Office of Judicial Complaints, after concerns were raised that she did not possess sufficient legal experience in the U.K. when she was appointed by her husband (a fellow coroner who chaired the inquest) to serve on the legal investigation into Winehouse's death.

Greenaway resigned from her position as an assistant deputy coroner in November after it was discovered she had not been a registered lawyer in the U.K. for the required five years. Her resignation was announced on Wednesday. According to British law, Greenaway would have needed either five years with the Law Society or five years of experience as a qualified medical practitioner. She has met neither set of criteria.

Her husband, Andrew Reid, said in a statement that he believed that Greenaway's legal and medical experience in Australia qualified her to lead the legal inquest, but admitted in a statement that he "had made an error in good faith."

Reid also said that, while he was "confident" all the inquests handled by his wife were done so correctly, he would be writing to the 30 families whose relatives were subject to those inquests (including Winehouse's) "to personally apologize and offer for their cases to be reheard if requested."

It is not known whether the Winehouse family will opt to have the late singer's inquest reopened. In a statement released to the Independent newspaper, the family said they were "taking advice on the implications [of the investigation into Greenaway's qualifications] and will decide if any further discussion with the authorities is needed."

Winehouse's father, Mitch Winehouse, later took to his Twitter account to add, "Don't worry about coroner nonsense. We are all okay."

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