WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains the name and image of a deceased person.
A CORONIAL inquest into the police shooting death of Warren Simon at Wickham last year will examine the response and use of force of two police officers who were confronted by the knife-wielding career criminal after answering a routine call about a break and enter.
The three-day inquest into the death of Mr Simon is listed to start in Newcastle Coroner's Court on Tuesday before newly appointed Deputy State Coroner Magistrate Kasey Pearce.
Mr Simon, who had spent much of the past decade behind bars for break-ins, home invasions and robberies, was shot and killed by police who were called to Wickham about 8am on April 7, 2023.
The two constables, a male and female aged in their mid-20s and described as "fairly junior", were investigating a theft from earlier in the night when they went to the unit in Bishopsgate Street and were confronted by Mr Simon, who police said was armed with a knife.
Police called for an ambulance and started CPR, but Mr Simon died a short time later.
The two constables were taken to John Hunter Hospital and were later discharged.
Police said last year the confrontation and police shooting was being examined by a critical incident team, comprising officers from the NSW Homicide Squad, and would be subject to an independent review.
When a person dies in the course of a police operation an inquest is mandatory and that investigation is expected to form much of the evidence over the next three days.
According to court documents, Mr Simon had led a troubled life and spent the majority of the last decade before his death in jail, after being convicted of break-ins, a violent home invasion using an axe and demanding money from a number of business owners at Toronto.
In 2012, he was convicted of break and enter and jailed for a maximum of four years and six months, with a non-parole period of three years.
He was released on parole in 2015, but was arrested in July 2016 and his parole was revoked after he was charged with using an axe to smash his way into a stranger's house at Toronto.
He was later jailed for a maximum of four years and six months, with a non-parole period of two years and three months for the home invasion involving the axe and first became eligible for parole in December, 2018.
But in 2020, again while still on parole, Mr Simon was arrested at Toronto after demanding money and threatening three business owners in The Boulevard.
Refused bail again, Mr Simon was in 2021 jailed for a maximum of two years and six months, with a non-parole period of 15 months and became eligible for parole in October, 2021.
He is believed to have been squatting in the unit at Wickham where the violent confrontation occurred after officers went there investigating a break-in at a nearby suburb.
