The family of the headteacher Ruth Perry have been refused legal aid for her inquest, The Guardian reports.

Perry’s family state that the headteacher was devastated and killed herself following an Ofsted inspection. Her school had been downgraded from ‘outstanding’ to ‘inadequate’ over errors in safeguarding training and procedures.

The government’s position that families do not need their own legal representation in most inquests was disputed by the family was ‘profoundly iniquitous’. They drew attention to the wider public interest in the case, and that other parties to the inquest – Ofsted, the local council, and an NHS trust, as well as other public bodies – will have their representations underwritten by government funds. This was a case of ‘legal and financial inequity’.

Deborah Coles, the Executive Director of the charity INQUEST, said it was a ‘shameful decision not to grant legal aid for such an important public interest case & where three public bodies are represented from the public purse. We need to end this inequality of arms & extend funding for all state related inquests.’

The family have resorted to crowdfunding their legal costs. As of Monday 27 November, the family has managed to exceed their fundraising target of £50,000. Many of the donations are from members of the teaching community, with donors empathising with their own experiences of Ofsted inspections.