Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority Reprimanded for Delay in Compensating Catastrophically Injured Child

M v CICA before Mr Justice McCombe,11th November 2002

In a judgment in the Administrative Court today the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority was found to have delayed the making of an award of compensation to a child who had suffered catastrophic brain damage as a result of having been shaken by one of his natural parents when only four weeks old.

"M" who is now aged four suffered a brain haemorrhage and large bi-lateral haematomas leaving him totally dependent on others for his daily needs for the rest of his life. He has limited mobility, is doubly incontinent, unable to feed himself and has profound learning difficulties. As a consequence of his feeding problems he is prone to episodes of projectile vomiting.

"M" has subsequently been adopted and the court proceedings were brought on his behalf by his adoptive mother. The act of shaking him violently constituted a criminal assault entitling him to compensation under the state Criminal Injuries Compensation scheme. The claim was lodged in December 1998 and the CICA made a number of requests for evidence to be submitted in support. The last such evidence was submitted in September 2001, but despite protestations from "M"s legal advisors the CICA failed to complete the application and make an award.

"Sadly, M's case is not untypical" says Neil Sugarman, a partner at Graham Leigh Pfeffer and Co, solicitors of Greater Manchester who represented him. "There are probably three to four hundred similar cases in the UK each year. This type of occurrence was really unheard of before the Louise Woodward case, but it is clear that it is a widespread and serious problem. Babies who are shaken often survive with the most horrific damage to their brains. They need all the help and financial resources available and quickly" says Mr Sugarman.

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme was changed in 1996. Before then there was no limit on the award that could be made. It would be calculated in exactly the same way as if the injury had happened in a road accident and was being awarded by a court. In 1995/1996 the government introduced a new, tariff based scheme capped at £500,000. "That might seem a lot of money, but with lifetime care and accomodation needs for these terribly damaged children it is a drop in the ocean" says Mr Sugarman. "For the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to take so long to complete the awards is simply compounding the problem and is an insult to people like "M"s adoptive mother who is giving up much of her own life to look after him with very little serious help from the state. I'm full of admiration for her and the many other people like her who I have represented in similar claims. What concerns me is that there are numerous other children like "M" who are injured each year and we need to have a quicker and more cost effective way of providing them with the compensation to which they are entitled."

Concerns over the discrepancy between the old scheme and the new scheme and the period of time taken by the CICA to complete the process have been raised with a number of MPs and have resulted in parliamentary questions being asked and the issue being taken up with the Home Secretary. " I hope that today's decision by the court will heighten public awareness of the problems of shaken babies , whilst at the same time inviting the government to take a whole new look at the system in terms of the amount of the awards in serious injury cases and the way in which they are dealt with. We hear much from the Government about doing more for the victims of crime - perhaps this would be one way of tangibly showing that they mean it" says Mr Sugarman.

For further information contact

Neil Sugarman
Graham Leigh Pfeffer and Co
Maple House
Bury BL9 0AR
Greater Manchester

0161 764 1818 or 0161 763 1763 (telephone)
0161 761 1555 (fax) ns@glplaw.co.uk (E mail)