Mark Haines Inquest Concludes After 37-Year Wait

Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame will deliver findings this year into the 1988 death of Mark Haines, a 17-year-old Indigenous teenager found on train tracks near Tamworth. The inquest was formally opened in May 2023 after authorities left the case uninvestigated for 37 years. Detectives who testified in 2025 hearings offered conflicting views on whether Haines died accidentally, by suicide, or from foul play. Grahame's determination will be the first formal coronial account of his death.