A narrative verdict is a verdict available to coroners in England and Wales following an inquest. In such a verdict the circumstances of a death are recorded without attributing the cause to a named individual. Narrative verdicts were introduced in 2004.
Historical examples
The inquest into the death of Charlotte Shaw concluded with a narrative verdict in October 2010. Charlotte Shaw drowned while crossing a swollen stream on Dartmoor during training for Ten Tors in 2007.
A coroner delivered a narrative verdict into the death of Secret Intelligence Service officer Gareth Williams whose decaying corpse was found padlocked into a red sports bag in the bath at his home in August 2010.
References
Narrative verdict Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA