West London Coroner’s Court has come under fire from six borough councils and several MPs amid accusations of "rudeness" to grieving relatives, mismanagement and an extreme backlog of cases.

Senior coroner Chinyere Inyama is accused of rudeness towards grieving families and harassing his own staff in a letter sent to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office on behalf of Richmond, Kingston, Hounslow, Ealing, Hillingdon and Hammersmith and Fulham councils.

Twickenham MP Tania Mathias had what she described as a "difficult" meeting with Mr Inyama in October to discuss a backlog that has left some constituents "in tears" in her surgery as they waited for more than a year for an inquest into the death of a loved one to be opened and a death certificate issued.

Coroners are required to complete an inquest as soon as "reasonably possible" and usually within six months of a death.

Dr Mathias said Mr Inyama told her he had inherited a backlog of cases from his predecessor, and showed her a letter praising him for getting through that backlog.

Alison Thompson, who was succeeded by Mr Inyama in 2014 and now works at Oxfordshire Coroners Court, was unavailable for comment.

Dr Mathias said: "He [Mr Inyama] was adamant he was very good at his job."

She added: "I would be nervous if someone in my family had to go through that service.

"Some constituents have literally been in tears in the surgery and it is absolutely heart-breaking and you can never change that memory of what you go through when you lose a loved one."

Dr Mathias said she was concerned with the level of compassion demonstrated in the court’s communication with grieving families.

She said: "I don’t think MPs should be having to go to the coroner to talk about what I think is part of their job, how to communicate with grieving relatives."

When asked to comment on the criticism Mr Inyama said judicial propriety dictated he could not comment in public.

He said: "I have a spotless record with the Judicial Conduct Investigation Office and I want to keep it that way."

A spokesman from Hammersmith and Fulham said on behalf of Mr Inyama that the backlog was something the court had built up before Mr Inyama's time at the helm.

He said the court had implemented a new phone and admin system and had opened up a second court in order to improve efficiency.

The spokesman said: "The court is working tirelessly to fix this backlog.

"The council cannot fix this but he [Mr Inyama] is confident that sometime next year we will have cleared that backlog."