A potentially ground-breaking judgement [in the Civil Court] has been made that should help social services departments defend themselves against past child abuse claims. For the first time, a judge has barred a claim on the grounds that a fair trial could not be held because the case was brought so long after the events complained of. In a case involving Wirral Council the claimant alleged abuse by her mother and step-father and that the local authority had failed to protect her from the abuse by failing to take her into care. Kathy Perrin, lawyer for Wirral local authority, said the ruling was potentially of significant benefit to local authorities. "Local authorities continually face claims from adults who allege that they were neglected or abused at home and that the authority ought to have taken them into care," she said. "The alleged consequences are often serious psychiatric conditions caused by the abuse, with an impact on educational attainment and … [Read more...]
Judge rules fair trial not possible on past child abuse claim -alleged abuse too far in the past says judge
Abuse victim jailed for blackmail
A sex abuse victim has been jailed for six years for blackmailing the man who abused him. Mark Phillips, 41, admitted extorting more than £200,000 during a three-year campaign against the wealthy pensioner. Exeter Crown Court heard Phillips, from Meeth in Devon, wanted revenge against and control over the 70-year-old man, who first abused him at the age of 13. The abuser, who cannot be named because of a court order, was interviewed by police and given a caution. In court it was claimed "mutual" sexual activity took place between Philips and the man in the early to mid 1980s. The abuser, who was married at the time, was also having a sexual affair with Phillips' mother. After sentencing, Yvonne Traynor from the Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre said she was "appalled" not only by the sentence, but because an adult who abused a child was "called a victim and given anonymity". She told BBC News: "I am not saying it (blackmail) was right, but I can understand … [Read more...]
Quarriers Staff facing redundancy threat
One of Scotland's biggest charities which cares for vulnerable children has threatened its 2,000 staff with redundancy, according to a trade union. Unison claimed that Quarriers had told workers they would be dismissed and re-hired on new contracts if they did not agree to pay changes. The charity had been negotiating with unions about changes to staff conditions since May. Quarriers said all contracts would only be terminated as a "last resort". Unison said the redundancy threat was issued in a letter on Friday. The union said the charity's management wanted to cut staff night shift payments and payments for public holidays. Our members work very hard for the charity and provide an excellent service to some of the most vulnerable in society It also claimed Quarriers had proposed cutting sick pay by a quarter for any worker with less than five years service. The charity has more than 100 projects across Scotland and provides residential accommodation for … [Read more...]
Man appeals to sue rape accuser
A man cleared of rape after serving two years in jail has renewed a bid for £300,000 in damages from his accuser. Tony Hunt, 66, from Dorset, was jailed for four years in 2003 but had his conviction quashed on appeal in 2005. Mr Hunt, who says sex was consensual, had his civil action blocked by the High Court last year when a judge ruled the woman was not his prosecutor. But the case, thought to be the first of its kind in the UK, is being heard by three civil appeal judges. Majority verdict His lawyer told the judges on Wednesday that his client wanted to "vindicate his reputation" by obtaining a judgment against the woman, referred to only as AB. Mark Warby QC said: "It is 14 years ago to the day that my client had sex with the defendant with her consent at her home at the age of 52. "It was nearly seven years afterwards that he was arrested and learned of her allegation of rape. "He was prosecuted and, on a majority verdict, convicted, but his conviction was … [Read more...]
Dave Jones speaks of false allegation ordeal
From The Times June 26, 2009 Dave Jones: My child sex charge ordeal In 1999 Dave Jones’s world was devastated by wrongful charges of child sex abuse. He reveals the damage it did to his family and his football career Matthew Syed It was at the moment the door to the police interview room clanked shut that Dave Jones knew something was horribly wrong. The place was dank and windowless. It smelt like a hospital ward with paint peeling off the walls. Fear seemed to engulf the manager of Southampton Football Club as he sat there, alone, waiting. He was jolted from his thoughts by the door banging against the wall. Two officers entered the room. One of them started to speak, but what he said seemed somehow incomprehensible, yet at the same time as dark and threatening as the room in which Jones was sitting. “David Jones, you are under arrest.” Jones felt his stomach lurch and his skin crawl. “Arrest? What for?” he replied. “Physical abuse and . . . [it seemed to Jones … [Read more...]
Raped teacher wins compensation case
A teacher who was raped by a pupil will receive an undisclosed payment from her London school in compensation for the "truly horrifying" attack. The teacher at Westminster City School was attacked by powerfully-built Dwayne Best, then 15, in September 2004. At London's High Court she argued that Best, the main suspect in a previous sexual assault at the school, should have been excluded prior to the rape. The school insisted the rape could not have been foreseen or prevented. The teacher, who cannot be named, was raped within a week of starting her job as she worked alone in a classroom after school hours. More: BBC … [Read more...]
Taxi driver falsely accused of rape has been told he has grounds for compensation.
A tribunal in Taunton ruled Clive Bishop, of Walton, Somerset, can apply for compensation from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). In 2007, Mr Bishop was falsely accused of rape by a woman who made up the allegation. She was given a 10-month prison sentence as a result. The 49-year-old said he lost his taxi business and was shunned by his local community as a result of the claims. His previous attempts to claim from CICA had been turned down because he did not suffer physical damage. In February 2007, Mr Bishop was arrested and charged with raping a girl he had picked up in his taxi. Six weeks later he was told the case would not be proceeding as the girl had dropped her claim and had been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice. CICA's view that Mr Bishop was not entitled to compensation as he had not been a victim of physical violence was overturned by the court on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for CICA told BBC News Online said it … [Read more...]
Foster carer speaks out against injustice on BBC Radio programme.
If you are a foster carer and have been falsely accused or let down by a care authority or fostering agency you may find BBC Radio Four programme On the Ropes in which John Humphrey's interviews successful people who have weathered storms in their careers. In the most recent programme he relates how Marjorie took on difficult teenagers and tried to give them a better life, but when one foster child made accusations of sexual abuse and began a string of threatening phone calls, her life was sent into turmoil. It took a further 10 years to discover that vital and disturbing information about the girl's past had been withheld - information which would have stopped her fostering the girl in the first place. Marjorie explains how she had sue the local authority and take on the legal system in her pursuit for justice. … [Read more...]
Victim of wrongful conviction in sex case to seek €1m damages
The following is an extract fromm an article by Brian McDonald, Shane Phelan, and Tim Healy apeared in the Independent [Ireland) newspaper on Tuesday April 28 2009 A man whose conviction for sexually assaulting a young girl has been declared a miscarriage of justice is expected to seek up to €1m in compensation from the State. Michael Feichin Hannon (34) said his family had lived with a decade of "stigma" following his wrongful conviction for molesting a 10-year-old. The Court of Criminal Appeal (CCA) yesterday declared the conviction a miscarriage of justice after the 'victim' in the case admitted she had made the whole thing up. Una Hardester invented the claims in 1997 because her family was involved in a Connemara land dispute with relatives of Mr Hannon. Mr Hannon received a suspended four-year prison sentence as a result of those claims in 1999. However, Ms Hardester, who is now 21 and lives in the US, admitted to gardai eight years later she had made up the … [Read more...]
Struck off: lawyer who made £13m from sick miners compensation scheme
The following report by Andrew Norfolk appears in the Times newspaper A former television presenter who became one of Britain’s highest-earning solicitors has been struck off for “disgraceful” misconduct in his handling of sick miners’ compensation claims. Andrew Nulty, who earned £13 million from the claims in one year, joins a growing list of solicitors punished for their role in the coal health scandal, exposed by The Times. After a three-day hearing before the Solicitors’ Disciplinary Tribunal, he was told by its chairman, Edward Richards, that his behaviour and conduct were “a disgrace to the profession”. Avalon, a small firm in Warrington, Cheshire, set up by Mr Nulty, 42, in 2001, banked more than £40 million in legal fees for processing more than 30,000 claims under the £8 billion government scheme. During 2005-06, the firm recorded a £21.2 million turnover with a 73 per cent profit margin (£15.5 million), of which Mr Nulty’s personal share … [Read more...]
Headmistress awarded £400,000 damages after being falsely accused
Headmistress wins damages for having been called racist and Islamophobe A former headmistress of a primary school has been awarded 400,000 pounds in compensatory damages after she was falsely accused of racism and hounded out of her job. A judge at the Royal Courts of Justice in London yesterday ordered Surrey County Council to pay Mrs Connor 407,781 pounds in compensation. He ruled that the local education authority had failed to support her properly against the unfounded accusations [of racism and Islamophobia]. Deputy Judge John Leighton Williams said the council disregarded the 'health and welfare' of Mrs Connor because it was more concerned about being reported to the Commission for Racial Equality. … [Read more...]
Man falsely accused of murder awarded compensation
A barman jailed on suspicion of murder after being framed in the Meredith Kercher killing was yesterday awarded £7,340 damages. Diya 'Patrick' Lumumba was demanding more than £460,000, claiming his life had been ruined. Mr Lumumba was dragged from his bed by armed police in a dawn raid after main suspect Amanda Knox named him as the killer. He was held for two weeks before being released without charge. Yesterday, the 38-year-old's lawyer Carlo Pacelli said they would be appealing against the award. 'The figure is absolutely unjust. He was incorrectly imprisoned for two weeks, his private life and his business life has suffered as a result and he has been given the miserly compensation of just €8,000.' The Court of Appeal in Perugia said the sum more than 'adequately covered the damage to the image and financial loss suffered'. Source: Metro … [Read more...]
USA clergy pay out billions in compensation
The following report on Clergy abuse in the USA appears on the AP website. It shows an increasing trend in awarding compensation and highlights the fact that some churches are not able to meet these claim and are filing for bankruptcy. Catholic dioceses still paying for clergy misdeeds By RACHEL ZOLL – 2 days ago NEW YORK (AP) — The price for failing to rein in predatory clergy keeps rising for the U.S. Roman Catholic Church. The church has paid more than $2.6 billion in settlements and related expenses since 1950, according to an annual report released Friday by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The costs to dioceses and religious orders dropped in 2008 by 29 percent, to about $463 million. But 2007 was an unusually high year, when the Archdiocese of Los Angeles began paying its $660 million settlement to about 500 people. It was the largest deal by a U.S. diocese. "The overall costs are still very high," said Mary Gautier of the Center for … [Read more...]
Council face record abuse compensation claim
Former residents of children's homes have launched a record compensation claim against Manchester council for alleged sexual and physical abuse stretching back over 30 years ago. The multi-million pound bid is being made by 150 former residents who claim they were abused in the 1970s and 1980s. Two years ago, the council was ordered to pay £2m to dozens of victims in a landmark ruling. Now, a second group demanding compensation could benefit from recent changes in payout guidelines. A five-year police investigation uncovered widespread abuse at a number of city-owned institutions, including incidents where children were raped, indecently assaulted and forced to work as prostitutes. The youngest victim was five-years-old. In 1997, GMP launched Operation Cleopatra to investigate claims of child abuse at a Manchester home dating from 1958. Allegations were made against staff at Rosehill in Northenden, Broome House in Didsbury and Mobberley Boys School in Knutsford. Six men … [Read more...]
Cleared man fails in attempt to sue accuser
A man who spent two years in jail before being cleared of rape has had his attempt to claim damages from his accuser denied at the High Court. Anthony Hunt, 65, of Blandford St Mary, Dorset, was jailed for four years in 2003 but had his conviction quashed on appeal in 2005. Mr Hunt, who maintains the sex was consensual, launched a civil claim against his accuser on Monday. But on Thursday Mr Justice Blake ruled that the woman was not the prosecutor. Mr Hunt's claim against his accuser was for malicious prosecution. The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was referred to in court as AB. Mr Hunt, a former senior traffic warden, had his conviction for the alleged 1995 offence overturned at the Court of Appeal in December 2005, when judges heard evidence from two new witnesses. The conviction was also quashed on the basis of inadequate direction to the jury. Mr Hunt argued that the woman became the prosecutor by giving a witness statement to police … [Read more...]
London teacher throttled by pupil as colleagues look on unable to intervene
We are grateful to NFPS (National Federation for Personal Safety) for bringing this article to our attention. This story also appears in the Daily Mail A teacher who won £250,000 compensation after a pupil tried to strangle him has criticised the apparent 'can't touch' culture that exists in schools after other teaching staff initially refused to intervene to assist him. The 50 year-old teacher, Colin Adams, was attacked by a 12 year-old boy who knocked Mr Adams to the floor before punching and kicking him and throttling him with his hands around Mr. Adams' neck. The assault occurred because the boy had been misbehaving in another teacher's class and Mr. Adams, as the Head of Department, had gone to the teachers aid. He ordered the boy to leave but the pupil refused. Then, as Mr. Adams left the room the boy launched his attack. However, other teachers who arrived and witnessed the assault refused to step in to help. Instead they shouted at the boy and yelled at him to … [Read more...]
Couple accused of abusing their children totally exonerated
Tim and Gina Williams's son and two daughters were taken into care for two years after the abuse allegations. The couple, from Newport, south Wales waived their right to anonymity after a judge "completely exonerated" them at the High Court in Cardiff in 2006. Mr Williams said the couple had suffered a "total nightmare". On Monday, they were back in court to settle their claim for compensation. The couple were accompanied to the hearing to settle their claim against Newport City Council and Gwent Healthcare NHS Trust by their three children, who are now aged 14, 11 and seven. The terms of their settlement cannot be disclosed except to say as part of the terms Mr and Mrs Williams received a letter of apology from the council. Mr Williams, 39, said: "Since this all started four-and-a-half years ago, it's been a total nightmare. "Now we've got closure and can get back on with our lives and start afresh." Their children were put in three separate foster homes in August 2004 after … [Read more...]
The Times (Mick Hume) reports on the Jersey care home case
When a deputy police chief announced that children had been killed and buried at a Jersey home, the media were satisfied. But was it true? Throwing a miniature rugby ball around his cramped office in Broadcasting House, the run-down former BBC centre that now serves as a police HQ in Jersey's capital, St Helier, Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell is one policeman whose lot is not a happy one. A self-styled “Lancashire Bobby” with a track record of dealing with multiple deaths such as those of the Chinese cocklers who drowned in Morecambe Bay four years ago, the DSI was appointed to take over the Haut de la Garenne inquiry in September, after the retirement of the island's deputy police chief. When he and the new deputy police chief, David Warcup, reviewed the case of suspected child murder in the former home, they were shocked - not so much by the evidence as by its absence. “We've just gone through sheer hell with the media,” he says, “trying to get rid of the … [Read more...]
Judge calls for change in abuse compensation law
A senior Scottish judge has called for a change in the law which prevents victims of childhood abuse bringing a case for damages to the civil courts. Currently, all damages cases must be brought within three years. But Lord McEwan said that the rule meant a generation of abused children could have been failed by the law. He ruled that the case of woman who claims to have been abused by a police officer 33 years ago could go to a full hearing despite it being time-barred. A woman, known only as A, has alleged that the abuse began in 1975 when she was aged seven. The man she accused was convicted of abuse, but was later acquitted at the Court of Appeal in 2003. The conviction was quashed because of misdirection by the trial judge. Woman A then launched a £100,000 damages action, even although the three-year time bar had expired. She claims she suffered serious mental trauma and that her mind had been "locked off to the abuse". Several cases alleging childhood … [Read more...]
Innocent man cannot sue accuser
A man cleared by the court of appeal of raping a woman cannot sue her for damages, the high court said yesterday. Anthony Hunt, a traffic warden from Dorset, was jailed for four years in November 2003 but later had his conviction overturned by the court of appeal. Hunt, who spent two years in prison before his conviction was quashed in 2005, attempted to sue the woman for malicious prosecution, saying that she had falsely accused him of rape. Victims of miscarriages of justice were also entitled to a remedy in damages, his lawyers had argued. Dismissing his claim, Judge Collins yesterday said Hunt, 65, had not proved that the woman acted maliciously, adding that claims of this nature could make "many hundreds of people who cooperate with the police ... vulnerable to being sued for very large sums of money" at a time when efforts were being made to encourage rape victims to come forward. He added: "This consequence is likely to have particular impact in the field of … [Read more...]
Why are teachers scared of learning to give pupils first aid?
The following article appeared in School Gate section of Times On-Line on 10th November 2008 Two items of news in the last few days brought me up sharp. First, The Times Educational Supplement reported that teachers are reluctant to apply first aid to pupils in an emergency because they are scared of being sued by parents.Many are adopting strict “no touching” policies because of “unfounded” concerns over compensation claims, according to a study by Thames Valley University. Around 400,000 children suffer accidents or injuries at school each year. Even though no teacher has ever been taken to court as a result of helping a pupil in a medical emergency, teachers are reluctant to learn emergency first aid for children for fear of actually being asked to put their training into action. This was followed by a report on Monday’s Radio 4’s Today programme that the Musicians' Union is advising its members not to touch children during lessons to protect them from allegations … [Read more...]
Cleared man fails in attempt to sue accuser
A man who spent two years in jail before being cleared of rape has had his attempt to claim damages from his accuser denied at the High Court. Anthony Hunt, 65, of Blandford St Mary, Dorset, was jailed for four years in 2003 but had his conviction quashed on appeal in 2005. Mr Hunt, who maintains the sex was consensual, launched a civil claim against his accuser on Monday. But on Thursday Mr Justice Blake ruled that the woman was not the prosecutor. Mr Hunt's claim against his accuser was for malicious prosecution. The woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was referred to in court as AB. 'Reluctance to report' Mr Hunt, a former senior traffic warden, had his conviction for the alleged 1995 offence overturned at the Court of Appeal in December 2005, when judges heard evidence from two new witnesses. The conviction was also quashed on the basis of inadequate direction to the jury. Mr Hunt argued that the woman became the prosecutor by giving a … [Read more...]
Huge rise in teacher suspensions
There has been an 86% increase in the number of teachers suspended on full pay in the UK over claims of pupil mistreatment, the BBC has learned. The Donal McIntyre programme on BBC Radio 5 Live obtained details from Freedom of Information requests to all 204 local authorities in the UK. Among the 40% of councils responding, the numbers suspensions rose from 168 in 2003-04 to 314 in 2007-08. Teachers' unions say there has been a rise in false allegations. The councils responding said almost £14.5 million was paid out in salaries for those suspended during the same period of time. But the total cost to taxpayers will be higher when other local authorities are taken into consideration. 'Neutral act' The most common reason for suspending a teacher was because of child protection issues, which includes allegations of verbal abuse, unreasonable force against a pupil, indecent assault, downloading child pornography. Other reasons were misuse of drugs or alcohol, and … [Read more...]
Trial and Error – the case of Tom Easling
The following article by James Walker appeared in The Australian on 11th September There is no reconciling the competing views about Tom Easling. According to the police and investigators for the South Australian Department for Families and Communities, he was too good to be true: not the kind, caring man he presented as but a pedophile who "hid in plain sight". A Supreme Court jury, however, concluded otherwise. Last November, the former public servant, who moonlighted as a volunteer foster carer, was found not guilty of 20 counts of indecent assault and unlawful sexual intercourse involving eight of the 100-odd boys entrusted to him. Easling, 50, received three years and three months' back pay and was reinstated to the state public service, but not to his old job as policy manager in the Office for Youth. He has not sought to regain his accreditation as a foster carer, which was revoked four years ago, before he was arrested by police in a dawn raid on his home. Like so … [Read more...]
Serving time: how much is it worth?
How much compensation should be paid to someone whose life is blighted after being wrongly accused or even convicted and jailed for murder? Article in Times Online here … [Read more...]
