Six London boroughs have called for the coroner who deals with Kingston inquests to be suspended after accusations of bullying and mismanagement of his office.

Chinyere Inyama has been accused of rudeness, harassing staff and being responsible for excessive delays at West London Coroner’s Court in a letter sent to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office on behalf of Kingston, Richmond, Hounslow, Ealing, Hillingdon and Hammersmith and Fulham councils.

Signed by Hammersmith and Fulham’s assistant director of safer communities, David Page, it calls for Mr Inyama’s suspension amid a backlog at the court.

Kingston and Surbiton MP James Berry, who has been leading the campagn, said: “I have talked to Kingston families who have dealt with some really shocking and upsetting mistakes from that court.

“I have spent 45 minutes on the phone just trying to get through to the office.

"There are serious accusations of rudeness, death certificate mistakes and inquests taking too long.

"I know a lot of my constituents would like to see him suspended.”

Mr Inyama also came under fire in July when he left an irreplaceable file containing case details about murdered schoolgirl Alice Gross on a train.

At an inquest in April Mr Inyama said he was “deeply embarrassed” by the length of time cases had been taking to appear in court.

He added: “For want of a better word, simple cases should not be taking a year and a half to come into the court, and in future they will not.”

By law, coroners are required to complete an inquest as soon as “reasonably possible” and usually within six months of a death.

Inquests at the court have been taking up to two years.

A spokesman for Mr Inyama said the backlog was something he inherited from his predecessor Alison Thompson when he took over in November 2014.

He said: “I am confident that sometime next year we will have cleared that backlog.”

A spokeswoman for Hammersmith and Fulham council said while other council services had seen significant cuts, the court’s funding had been protected.

She said: “The council’s view is that it is not only the backlog that is the problem.

“There are a wide range of complaints.”