Kelly Darlington

Kelly is Head of  Farleys’ inquest department and has a national client base. She specialises in representing bereaved families, with a particular emphasis on mental health related deaths, deaths in prison, police custody, hospitals and local authority care. She also has experience in representing bereaved families of military personnel.

Kelly also specialises in civil claims against the State involving breaches of the European Convention of Human Rights with a particular emphasis on human rights claims arising from the death of a loved one.

Kelly is experienced in representing clients in police complaints, actions against the police and prison service. She is experienced in bringing civil claims against local authorities where children have been abused or neglected in care and in representing victims of historic abuse in claims against local authorities, perpetrators of abuse, and making claims to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

Kelly’s work in this area of the law has led to a number of accolades including ‘Lawyer of the Week’ in The Times, and the Law Society Gazette.

Notable Cases

• Inquest into the Death of Rowan Thompson at The Gardener Unit, Prestwich
• Awaab Ishak Inquest – Coroner Finds Prolonged Exposure to Mould Led to Death Of 2-Year-Old
• Inquest into the Death of Daniel Dryden Concludes Missed Opportunities at Agnes Unit, Leicester
• Jury Find Failings Contributed to the Death of Patient at the Priory Altrincham Hospital
• Zakari Bennett-Eko Inquest Conclusion
• Article 2 Inquest into the Death of Nichola Jane Lomax
• Inquest Concludes Failures in Mental Health Care Contributed to Death
• Farleys Assist Previously Unrepresented Parents at the Inquest into the Death of their Son
• Inquest into the death of Mzee Mohammed at Liverpool One Shopping Complex
• Michael Hoolickin – Inquest into the death of young father stabbed by repeat offender to resume
• Inquest into the death of Poppi Worthington
• Keith Abbott – death at HMP Haverigg
• Nicholas Sullivan – Death following inadequate care at North Manchester General Hospital
  
• Inquest into the death of baby Willow Rosie Kemp concludes failures to plan materially contributed to death
• High suicide-risk prisoner Kieron Gray was ‘failed’ – BBC News
• Hospital slammed over ‘systemic failures’ following mental health patient’s death

What people say about Kelly

Professional Memberships

Kelly is a member of the INQUEST Lawyers Group and has a particular interest in public funding for bereaved families at inquests. She is involved in monitoring problems encountered and liaising with the Legal Aid Agency. She has also provided training on inquest funding to other practitioners. She is also a member of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers (ACAL) and the Police Action Lawyers Group (PALG).

Accreditations