The family of Maddy Cusack are concerned about what they see as a lack of transparency over the disclosure of documents linked to her case, a coroner’s court has heard.
Former Sheffield United player Cusack died aged 27 at her home in Horsley, Derbyshire on September 20, 2023. The head coach of United’s women’s team at the time, Jonathan Morgan, was the subject of a written complaint by the Cusack family to United within a week of her death.
The complaint outlined a range of issues she had been facing which they said all stemmed from her relationship with Morgan.
A third pre-inquest review hearing into Maddy’s death was held at Chesterfield Coroner’s Court on Thursday.
The family’s legal representative Maria Mulla told the coroner the family had received a copy of a Football Association investigation report into the circumstances surrounding Maddy’s death, but added: “They are concerned about a lack of transparency, particularly in relation to documents that are being provided to them.
“I’m being told the FA report in particular has missing pages and has a large number of redactions.
“I don’t think it’s an unreasonable request for the family or their legal team to inspect the redacted material. The family wants some transparency.”
Mulla – who works for the Maitland firm which is also representing abuse survivors in legal action against former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed – added: “The issue of relevance and the scope of this inquest is still very much a process that’s being undertaken and the family certainly need to consider all the disclosure before making submissions.”
Coroner Sophie Cartwright denied the request, saying that the Worcestershire principles were being followed in this case. Under those principles, all parties including the FA have submitted unredacted material to the coroner and made submissions as to what they believe should be redacted.
The coroner considers these submissions alongside their own views of what should be redacted, before collating a redacted disclosure bundle to all ‘properly interested persons’ in the case.
Mulla confirmed the family had only received the 704-page disclosure bundle on Tuesday, and were only able to open it on Wednesday.
Cartwright, along with legal counsel for the FA and Sheffield United, acknowledged the bundle contained duplications and inconsistencies.
Cartwright promised to share a “regularised” version of the bundle with the Cusack family’s legal team and then give them time to make submissions regarding it.
The coroner confirmed a recording of a Microsoft Teams video call between Maddy and Morgan would form part of the bundle, along with WhatsApp messages between them.
Sheffield United commissioned a company called Safecall to conduct an investigation following the family’s written complaint. That investigation concluded in December 2023 and found no evidence of wrongdoing.
United sacked Morgan in February last year after information came to light about a relationship he had with a player while he was in charge at Leicester.
Tell them my name.
Justice for Maddy. #MC8 pic.twitter.com/FjSC8Iru0R
— themaddycusackfoundation (@MC8_Foundation) September 20, 2024
His dismissal was not related to the FA investigation, but was welcomed by the Cusack family.
Morgan was present at Thursday’s hearing, as he had been at the previous one in January, and he again represented himself.
The inquest into Maddy’s death was originally scheduled for April 16 and 17 but the court confirmed on March 26 that it had been indefinitely delayed, and no new date was fixed at Thursday’s hearing, although late July or mid-September were discussed.
A further pre-inquest review hearing was scheduled for June 3.
The coroner apologised to Maddy’s family, accepting they had been “waiting a long time” and adding: “Hopefully we’re nearly there.”
