Technical issues halt coroner’s inquest into Manchester businessman’s death
Published:Friday | January 3, 2025 | 12:09 AMCorey Robinson/Senior Staff Reporter
A coroner’s hearing into the death of popular Manchester businessman Jason Neil was rescheduled to February 27 after a forensic analyst providing evidence to the court via the Internet had technical issues.
Judge Monique Harrison was forced to ask Tracy-Ann Bennett, an analyst from the Institute of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine, to visit the Manchester Parish Court in person next month after she repeatedly had trouble hearing questions being posed to her.
Harrison made the call after a brief in-chamber meeting with lawyers involved in the case.
Neil, a prominent businessman in the parish, was found with a gunshot wound to the head inside his bathroom at his home in Ingleside in the parish. Initially, Neil’s death was ruled a suicide, but family members are adamant that he was murdered.
Several family members, including Neil’s widow, who was alone with him at the time of his death, have testified before a seven-member jury at the inquest, which began in December 2023.
Neil’s widow, who was pregnant at the time, had testified that she was at home and heard an explosion.
When she went to investigate, she saw Neil on the bathroom floor of their home. He was bleeding, and his licensed firearm was beside him, she said. He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.