The brother of a woman who died after giving birth at Antrim Area Hospital yesterday applied for legal aid to allow him to have legal representation at his sister’s inquest.

At a last hearing concerning the death of 27-year-old Janet Brown, senior coroner John Leckey officially recognised Arnold Scott as an interested party in the case — prompting him to make the application at a hearing in Belfast yesterday.

Mrs Brown, from Lisnabanagh Road in Magherafelt, delivered a healthy baby boy by emergency Caesarean section on September 12, 2006, but died early the next day.

A post-mortem examination found she died of morphine intoxication.

Questions have been raised throughout the inquest as to how Mrs Brown received the fatal dose of morphine and Mr Scott has consistently called for a police investigation into the matter.

At the last inquest, Mr Leckey asked the PSNI to question a number of patients who were on the |same ward as Mrs Brown on the night she died — as well as several members of staff involved in her care.

He told the hearing yesterday that police have yet to complete their investigation.

Responding to Mr Scott’s application for legal aid, Mr Leckey said if he appoints a solicitor at this stage, the inquest will continue to run as before and no witnesses will be recalled.

The coroner also told the court he has spoken to another independent expert witness to request his opinion on the toxicology report from Mrs Brown who said he believed it was a reliable indication of the amount of morphine administered to the Magherafelt woman.