Westminster Bridge Inquest

Bell Yard was instructed by a retained client to provide PR support to the family of a police officer killed in a terrorist attack while on duty at the Houses of Parliament. Bell Yard publicised the family’s concerns over the conduct of the Coroner’s Inquest and the Met Police’s engagement with the Inquest.

Bell Yard provided sensitive and diligent PR support to the family throughout the course of the Inquest, working with them prior to the Inquest to determine the key messages to communicate to the media. Bell Yard worked with the family to decide on the most appropriate publication to brief, to ensure their desired aims were met, whilst protecting them from the demands of an unsurprisingly keen press pack, curious as to the family’s sentiments on the matter. We secured an interview with senior reporters at The Times leading to a front-page and subsequent articles carrying the family’s story.

Bell Yard also liaised with the Sun on Sunday (SoS) over its campaign to honour the fallen hero with a permanent memorial in Westminster. Bell Yard provided the family with insight on the SoS’s plans, secured a copy of the Metropolitan Police’s statement (which the Met had insensitively failed to provide to the family in advance) and drafted a quote on behalf of the family which was then published in the SoS.

Throughout the Inquest, Bell Yard managed media requests from both print and broadcast media, the latter including Sky News, BBC News and Channel 4, who sought interviews with the family. An intensely private family, each interview request was considered in detail and opportunities for comment purposefully limited to meet the desired aim of protecting their privacy but limiting exposure to allow them the utmost discretion possible in these circumstances.

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