An inquest into the death of Corey Junior Davis, the 14-year-old shot dead in a drive-by shooting in Forest Gate almost nine years ago, opens at East London Coroner’s Court on Monday.
The hearing, scheduled to last a week before His Majesty’s Senior Coroner Graeme Irvine, will examine the protection offered to the teenager — known to family and friends as CJ — by Newham Council and the Metropolitan Police in the months before he was killed.
CJ was shot at a playground in Moore Walk, Forest Gate, on 4 September 2017 while with friends. Nearly nine years on, no one has been convicted over his death. Police launched a fresh appeal for information in 2024, and a plaque was unveiled in his memory ahead of his story featuring on BBC Crimewatch Live.
The inquest will be held under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which governs the state’s duty to protect life. At an earlier pre-inquest review, the coroner agreed with CJ’s mother, Keisha McLeod, that the role of state bodies in his life should be scrutinised, ruling there had been an arguable failure to protect him before his death.
Ms McLeod’s lawyers say that in the months before the killing, evidence indicates CJ was criminally exploited as a vulnerable child, exposed to county lines drugs gangs, and placed at serious risk of harm.
Evidence is expected from the Metropolitan Police, the London Borough of Newham and the London and Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q).
A series of missed opportunities
A Serious Case Review previously identified what the family’s solicitor described as a series of missed opportunities to intervene and protect CJ.
Speaking after the earlier ruling, Ms McLeod said the family missed her son “more than words can say,” adding that he had died before he had the chance to find his path in life. She said she wanted the council and police to examine whether they could have done more, and — if the coroner agreed — to change their practices to protect other children facing the same risks.
Yvonne Kestler, the human rights solicitor at law firm Leigh Day representing Ms McLeod, said that although no one had faced criminal charges over CJ’s death, the family believed he had been failed by Newham Council and the Metropolitan Police.
Ms McLeod has asked not to be approached before or during the inquest. She intends to make a statement outside court after it concludes.
The inquest opens at East London Coroner’s Court, 124 Queens Road, E17 8QP, at 10am on Monday 20 July.
