THE inquest into a Southend teenager’s death has been delayed after vital emails were not provided by health bosses.

Essex Coroner’s Court confirmed that the inquest into the death of 19-year-old Chris Nota will be delayed until January 4, after it was initially expected to conclude on Friday.

It comes after Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) failed to supply emails between medical health workers about Mr Nota to Niche, an independent body drafted in by the health trust to probe his death.

Speaking at the hearing on Friday, Lynnbritt Gale, director of community delivery and partnerships at EPUT, said: “Niche should have been provided with full access to emails and we offer our apologies to the court and the family for the delay and upset caused.

“These emails should have been shared, it would have been appropriate. We need a full review of what documents staff should include for a investigation like this.”

The inquest had run for three weeks, with the inquest previously hearing a statement read out on behalf of Mr Nota’s mum, Julia Hopper, revealing she had long feared that he would die.

Coroner Sean Halstead raised concerns about the process of collecting information for investigations such as the one by Niche into Mr Nota’s death.

He told the court: “It seems to me there is a need in EPUT for the person who is disclosing information like this to be legally trained. My concern is if this is ad hoc by people who are not legally trained it may lead to the issues we are seeing in this case.

“It seems to me to have clinicians dealing with this is not fair and is running the risk of injustice to the clinicians, families and integrity of the inquest process.”

Mr Nota died after falling from a bridge in Queensway, Southend, on July 8, 2020.

The inquest previously heard that Ms Hopper claimed he was in need of more support from mental health services, adding he had previously attempted to take his own life in hospital.