Sadly, a very good friend of mine has died whilst on holiday in Morocco.

It was an unexpected death from natural causes.

Would a PM have been performed in Morocco or would it wait for repatriation?

I’m just curious.

I think it’s locally if there are suspicious circumstances (*), otherwise back here.

* as defined by the local plod

Yes a friend’s son was recently found dead in canada and a post mortem was conducted.

a post mortem conducted in the UK, Bigjim?

https://www.gov.uk/after-a-death/death-abroad

Very sadly our friend’s 3 year old didn’t wake up last month.

He had a PM in The Philippjnes.

I think Yes

My Dad died (in ICU in Portugal) after an accident on a ship. In addition to the police getting involved, they performed a PM.

My guess is that it depends on the circumstances, BiL’s dad died in hospital in Aus, no PM.

I also expect one can be ordered by a coroner here on the body’s return.

s1 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 says that a Senior Coroner who becomes aware of a body located in their area (regardless of where the person died) has an obligation to investigate the deaths of those persons if the coroner has reason to suspect the death was violent, unnatural, in custody/detention or of unknown causes.

s14 of the same Act says that the Coroner may (but not must), as part of an investigation or to decide whether to conduct an investigation into a death, order a post mortem examination of a body.

FWIW, I do not believe that a post mortem was conducted in the UK of my friend who was killed in Spain in a car crash and whose body was returned to the UK. I think a post mortem examination was possibly done in Spain and (in the absence of any suggestion of shenanigans by the Spanish authorities and when it was clear how/why he died) there would have been no point doing one in the UK.

FWIW OP if the family is worried that one won’t be done when they want one, they might be able to request one or pay for one to be done…?

It’s also quite possible depending on the circumstances that a second post-mortem will be requested by the coroner once your friend is repatriated.

Evening all, local funeral directors here!

Sorry for the bad news Derek. Whether a PM is done or not abroad is totally dependant on the circumstances of the death and in which country it happened. In Morocco I’d expect one to take place. The authorities abroad along with a local funeral director will get together all relevant paperwork that will allow the body to be repatriated back to the UK.
When the body arrives back in this country then all the paperwork will be sent to H. M. Corner for the area in which the body will be cremated / buried. The Coroner will then decide to either provide the relevant paperwork for the service to go ahead here or whether further investigation is needed. The only time a further PM would take place here is if the coroner isn’t happy with the finding of the original PM taken place abroad of if the documentation is illegible.
This sometimes happens if the PM results, death certificate etc are in a different language.
The families funeral director will do all the leg work for the family. It is worth appointing one sooner rather than later as a decent funeral director will be ahead of the game with getting copies of paperwork and forewarning the coroner etc which will minimise delays in the service taking place.

If you have any questions just his me a shout, there’s not much I haven’t seen after doing this job for the last 15 years.