Narrative verdict

A narrative verdict is a verdict available to coroners in England and Wales and in Ireland following an inquest. In such a verdict the circumstances of a death are recorded, being a brief free-form, factual statement (either instead of, or in addition to, one of the standard, and familiar, Short-Form Conclusions), which does not attribute the cause to an individual. Narrative verdicts were introduced to England and Wales in 2004.

Historical examples
The inquest into the death of Charlotte Shaw concluded with a narrative verdict in October 2010. Charlotte Shaw drowned while crossing a swollen stream on Dartmoor during training for Ten Tors in 2007.

A coroner delivered a narrative verdict into the death of Secret Intelligence Service officer Gareth Williams whose decaying corpse was found padlocked into a red sports bag in the bath at his home in August 2010.