It is to be hoped for the sake of the families of Jane Driver, Eva Blackburn and Annie Midgley that Bradford coroner Roger Whittaker is granted permission by the Secretary of State to hold inquests into the deaths of the three alleged victims of nurse Anne Grigg-Booth at Airedale Hospital.

They need to have their uncertainty resolved over how their elderly relatives died. As they have said, if they are to find what psychologists refer to as "closure" it is important for them to learn (as far as can be ascertained given that cremations had taken place before police launched their inquiry) whether their loved ones died of natural causes or were hastened to their end.

As Mrs Grigg-Booth died before she could be brought to court the complete story might never be known - even if the relatives get the public inquiry they are seeking over and above the inquest. But knowing that the circumstances surrounding the deaths have been officially scrutinised by the coroner surely should help to ease their minds.

Of course there is a danger that the inquest, as well as providing answers, could raise other questions which its remit will prevent it from examining. If that is the case the families - who want an investigation into the "systemic" problems they believe existed at Airedale Hospital at the time - might feel that the process has not gone as far as it can to resolve their grief and it might be difficult to deny them the public inquiry they seek.