Maddy Cusack inquest adjourned after new evidence submitted

The inquest into the death of former Sheffield United player Maddy Cusack has been adjourned until December after new evidence was submitted.

The inquest began on June 29 and had been due to conclude on Friday and the coroner was to return on July 27 to deliver her conclusions.

But proceedings have been delayed because of additional documents, understood to be related to medical records, having been lodged. There has also been an additional request for disclosure from the family.

Cusack took her own life on September 20, 2023, and the inquest into her death has been delayed multiple times.

Sophie Cartwright, the coroner, apologised to the family for the further delay and confirmed there was a need to recall witnesses, including Subhasis Basu, Sheffield United’s former club doctor, and physiotherapist Francesca Carr. There is a potential need to recall Cusack’s mother, Deborah, too.

Cartwright also asked Dr Basu’s lawyer whether they could provide contact details for Sheffield United’s former assistant physio Sean Bowskill, who now works for Al Jazira in Abu Dhabi.

A new provisional date has been listed for December 7, but is subject to change. Chesterfield Coroners’ Court is not available until October and Cartwright is unavailable until December. It is expected that a further three to four days will be needed to conclude the inquest.

Cartwright said: “I’m so very sorry to the family in particular, to Miss Riglar [Cusack’s girlfriend] and to all the properly interested people. I appreciate the significance of this inquest. I am also conscious that there will be another anniversary of Maddy’s death and birthday, my thoughts will be with you on those dates.”

The court previously heard Basu admit that Cusack’s medical records went missing because of a widespread data loss.

Basu, now club doctor at Rotherham United and a medical director for the English Football League, said he became aware that medical records were missing in the summer of 2023, when the club moved from a part-time model to become a fully professional outfit.

The club used performance intelligence company Kitman Labs but had “systemic” problems with data, Basu told the court.

He raised the issues with the records provider because they had previously rectified a similar issue on the men’s academy side, but admitted he did not raise this issue directly with Sheffield United until two weeks after Cusack’s death.

Cusack’s record is only updated until August 2022 and the coroner has asked Sheffield United to complete a “forensic audit” of their systems to understand whether there were subsequent or other entries on those systems and whether any notes have been deleted.