Lee Balkwell concrete mixer death: Family awarded £12,000 – BBC News
‘The family of a man found dead in a concrete mixer in Essex has been awarded £12,000 in compensation.’
BBC News, 30th January 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Category: criminal injuries compensation
Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (CICA)’s refusal of application for compensation arising out of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is endorsed by Court of Appeal : CP (A Child) v First Tier Tribunal (Criminal Injuries Compensation) – Zenith PI Blog
‘Yesterday the Court of Appeal gave a vote of confidence in CICA’s recent policy change on FASD inflicted injuries. The Court concluded that, as a foetus was not ‘any other person’ in the eyes of the criminal law, the mother’s damagingly excessive alcohol consumption was NOT an act of violence susceptible to compensation.
Zenith PI Blog, 9th December 2014
Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority v First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) and another (British Pregnancy Advisory Service and Birthrights and another intervening) – WLR Daily
‘A mother who drank alcohol to excess while she was pregnant, resulting her child being born with permanent damage from foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, was not criminally liable for administering poison to “any other person” so as to inflict grievous bodily harm contrary to section 23 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. Because a foetus was not “any other person” for the purposes of section 23, and the harm had been inflicted on the child while she was in the womb, the child was not entitled to criminal injuries compensation.’
WLR Daily, 4th December 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Foetal alcohol damages case dismissed by Court of Appeal – BBC News
‘A child born with foetal alcohol syndrome is not legally entitled to compensation after her mother drank excessively while pregnant, the Court of Appeal has ruled.’
BBC News, 4th December 2014
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Alcohol consumed in pregnancy may be deemed to be poisoning – Halsbury’s Law Exchange
‘The Court of Appeal heard a landmark test case this week brought on behalf of a child born with foetal alcohol syndrome against the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 7th November 2014
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
Criminal injuries compensation: a guide – Ministry of Justice
‘A guide to applying for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.’
Ministry of Justice, 14th July 2014
Source: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice
Colefax v First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) and another – WLR Daily
‘The ordinary meaning of paragraph 18(b) of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2008, which provided that a claims officer could waive the two-year time limit, from the date of the relevant incident, for the making of an application for compensation in respect of a criminal injury where, in the particular circumstances of the case, it would not have been reasonable to expect the applicant to have made an application within the two-year period, required the late applicant to show that it was not reasonable to expect him to make any application for compensation within time thereby placing the burden on the late applicant to show that he did not fail to comply with a reasonable expectation that he would pursue his compensation rights in a timely manner.’
WLR Daily, 8th July 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Woman abused by stepfather fights for compensation – Daily Telegraph
‘A woman who was sexually abused by her stepfather for more than a decade will today bring a landmark legal case in an attempt to overturn rules which bar her from claiming compensation from public funds.’
Daily Telegraph, 21st May 2014
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Train driver traumatised by death on tracks fights loss of compensation – The Independent
‘It was around midday on 31 March 2012 that Nik Douglas’s life changed forever. The 37-year-old train driver was travelling through Northallerton station on the way to Newcastle when he saw a man in his sixties standing alone on the platform. He thought nothing of the lone figure, turning instead to check the opposite platform. By the time Mr Douglas looked back again, the man was crouching on the tracks in front of his train. But because of a recent change in the law, Mr Douglas could be the last person in the country to receive compensation for such trauma.’
The Independent, 5th May 2014
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Court of appeal to decide whether heavy drinking while pregnant is a crime – The Guardian
‘A pioneering compensation claim on behalf of a child who was severely damaged by her mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy is to go before the court of appeal.’
The Guardian, 4th March 2014
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority v First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) and another – WLR Daily
‘In order to determine whether conduct which amounted to an offence contrary to section 3(1) of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 of being the owner of a dog which was dangerously out of control in a public place was a “crime of violence”, for the purposes of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, it was necessary to have regard to the nature of the offence rather than its consequences. Negligently to allow a dog to escape, even a dog known to be aggressive, did not constitute a crime of violence.’
WLR Daily, 3rd February 2014
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Escaping dog not a “crime of violence” for purposes of criminal injuries compensation – UK Human Rights Blog
‘When considering whether to award compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme, the board must rest its determination of “crime of violence” on the act causing the injury, not its consequences. A breach of the provisions of the Dangerous Dogs Act is not necessarily a “crime of violence”.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 5th February 2014
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
Alison L. Young: Fact/Law – a Flawed Distinction? – UK Constitutional Law Group
“If prizes were awarded to ‘Distinctions in English law’, then a good contender for the ‘lifetime achievement’ award would be the distinction between ‘law’ and ‘fact’. Whilst adventurers have their Swiss Army knife, and the Dr has his sonic screwdriver, lawyers have the multi-purpose malleable ‘law/fact’ distinction which is just as capable of opening or closing avenues of review, or providing a deus ex machina ‘get out of jail free’ card – or so a perusal of two recent decisions of the Supreme Court might have us believe.”
UK Constitutional Law Group 21st May 2013
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
Regina (Jones) v First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chamber) – WLR Daily
“Where a tribunal found that a person who had committed suicide had been reckless as to whether his action would also cause injury to some other person, and it had in fact done so an offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm contrary to section 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 had been committed which was a ‘crime of violence’ entitling that other person to claim under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. However, the question as to what the offender had actually foreseen was for the First-tier Tribunal to answer, not an appellate court, which should not readily intervene in issues best left for determination by specialist appellate tribunals by classifying them as issues of law.”
WLR Daily, 17th April 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
M25 suicide case demonstrates limits of court of appeal – The Guardian
“Supreme court’s backing of initial tribunal reaffirms principle that suicidal people may not realise full effects of their actions.”
The Guardian, 18th April 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Jones (by Caldwell) (Respondent) v First Tier Tribunal (Respondent) and Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (Appellant) – Supreme Court
Supreme Court, 17th April 2013
Criminal compensation – claims for minor injuries cut – BBC News
“Violent crime victims who suffer minor injuries will not get compensation under changes which have come into effect in England, Wales and Scotland.”
BBC News, 27th November 2012
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Victims of crime may lose out on millions in compensation – The Guardian
“The government is studying plans to slash compensation for people injured by criminals, including the children of murder victims, despite mounting opposition from within its own ranks.”
The Guardian, 7th October 2012
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Hutton and others v Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority – WLR Daily
Hutton and others v Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority [2012] EWCA Civ 806; [2012] WLR (D) 176
“‘Particular circumstances’ in para 18 of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2001, which provided that a claims officer could waive the two-year time limit within which claims for compensation in respect of criminal injury should be brought pursuant to the scheme, meant the actual or distinct circumstances of the individual case, not special circumstances in the sense of being unusual or extraordinary circumstances.”
WLR Daily, 14th June 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Ken Clarke: £50m for victims’ services – Ministry of Justice
“An overhaul of victims’ services could see up to £50m generated from offenders to help create a speedier, more supportive system for victims of serious crime.”
Ministry of Justice, 30th January 2012
Source: www.justice.gov.uk
