A LONDON coroner’s “cab rank rule” for burials ignores the “deeply held beliefs” of Jewish and Muslim communities who require their dead be buried as soon as possible, the High Court heard yesterday.

Mary Hassell, the senior coroner for inner north London, established the policy that “no death will be prioritised in any way over any other because of the religion of the deceased or the family,” meaning all deaths in her jurisdiction are dealt with in the order they are registered.

The policy covers the boroughs of Camden, Islington, Hackney and Tower Hamlets, which have between them “sizeable Muslim and Jewish populations.”