Cranston Inquiry Full Hearings to begin on 3 March 2025

The full hearings of the Cranston Inquiry will begin on Monday 3 March 2025, chaired by Sir Ross Cranston. Rory Phillips KC is Counsel to the Inquiry, and he is assisted by a team of junior barristers, including Teniola Onabanjo.

The Cranston Inquiry is an independent non-statutory inquiry which was established in November 2023, by the then Secretary of State for Transport, The Rt Honourable Mark Harper MP, to investigate the mass casualty incident on 24 November 2021, when at least 27 people lost their lives crossing the English Channel in a small boat.

The Inquiry’s task is, in summary, to identify those who tragically died, to examine the circumstances of their deaths, and to make recommendations to reduce the risk of a similar event occurring.

Over the course of four weeks, the Inquiry will receive evidence from a survivor of the incident, families of victims, government departments and agencies, including the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and organisations involved in search and rescue in the English Channel.

A livestream of the hearings will be available on the Inquiry’s YouTube channel.