THE senior coroner of Gwent has retired after 35 years, having carried out around 8,000 inquests.

David T Bowen, who retired as senior coroner of Gwent last week, is going to stay in legal practice, as a partner for law firm Colborne, Coulman and Lawrence, in Clytha Park Road, Newport.

“I will do anything other than crime – conveyancing or company law, for example” he continued. “The main thing this job has taught me is to use my common sense.”

Mr Bowen, from Newport, said that, as a coroner, his role was to investigate all "sudden and unexpected" deaths. He liked being able to provide a service for the community.

“It can be very upsetting on occasions, but you have to be impartial and must not let your emotions intrude in your investigation,” Mr Bowen continued. “Inquests are just the tip of the iceberg.

“Over 35 years, around 90,000 deaths have been reported to me and have carried out around 8,000 inquests.”

Mr Bowen added that one of the biggest problems with the job is “managing people’s expectations” as, in TV shows, they are always able to establish a lot of facts.

“In reality, it is different,” he said. “In TV, they are able to establish exactly what time the person died. In reality, that is exceptionally difficult.”

In the last few years, there has a “disturbing increase” in the number of drug-related deaths, Mr Bowen continued, which is a “concern”.

He added: “Infant deaths are the most upsetting ones. When you see a perfectly formed child that has died for a reason a pathologist can’t establish, it is really upsetting for a family – and for my staff.

“The most frustrating deaths are those that occur abroad. It is about impossible to get the information from foreign authorities.

“We could be waiting for years.”

Wendy James is now the acting senior coroner for Gwent.