Canterbury Coroner's Court was likened to a morgue as those attending an inquest were made to sit in "arctic" temperatures.

Although the ground floor room at the court in Broad Street, has always been a little on the cold side, the court got increasingly frosty last week.

Solicitors forced to wear thick scarves, witnesses left their coats on and even coroner Rebecca Cobb had to reach for tissues to blow her nose.

Coroner's clerk Mr Hollis told those gathered for an inquest last Friday that the chill was down to a problem with the heating controlled from another building.

Following a welcome break in proceedings, people were seen bracing themselves, as they left the warmth of the waiting room and headed back into the court.

One solicitor was even heard saying she can been caught out by the arctic conditions before, and when she found out she would be attending a hearing in Canterbury dressed appropriately.

As the hearing drew to a close, and Coroner Cobb delayed the verdict, due to suffering with flu.

She was too unwell to properly research and re-read previous evidence and turned to blue-lipped journalists to say: "If you want to put something into your papers about the cold temperature it would be much appreciated and welcomed.

"Hopefully if made public it would draw sympathy and attention to the issue and the problem will be fixed.

"Thank you all for being so patient and understanding."

An HMCS spokesman, who refused to be named, said the problem was down to an air bubble in the system.

He added: "Engineers attended Canterbury Magistrates' Court on Monday and the temporary problem with the heating has now been resolved."

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