The mistress of a judge who died in an explosion at his country house said today she was confident the truth would finally emerge as the second inquest into his death began.

Judge Andrew Chubb, 58, died in a fireball in his garden shed in the grounds of his home in Leigh, near Chard, Somerset on July 29 2001, shortly after telling his wife Jennifer, 60, that he wanted to leave her.

His mistress of two years, Kerry Sparrow, challenged an inquest held in December 2001, conducted by the east Somerset coroner, which ruled his death was accidental.

Lawyers for Ms Sparrow, a 38-year-old legal executive, argued at the time that there was “a lack of sufficient inquiry” into the death at the original inquest.

Last November, the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, and Mr Justice Roderick Evans, sitting at the High Court, ordered that the second inquest be held into the judge’s death.

As Ms Sparrow arrived at Glastonbury town hall for the first day of the second inquest, she told reporters she believes the true events of what happened that day will be established.

“I hope to hear all the facts into Andrew’s death,” she said.

“I’m confident the truth will come out.”

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