Soham Killer Huntley Seeking Injury Claim
I logged on to my computer this morning and checked the news
, as I often do. Amidst the usual stories about celebrities sunbathing and cats living to be thirty was something altogether more sinister: the news that Ian Huntley is planning to make a personal injury claim against the prison authorities who are responsible for him.For those who are unaware of him, Huntley is a former school caretaker who lured two ten year old friends, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, to his house in Soham, Cambridgeshire, in August 2002 and murdered them both in an apparently unpremeditated attack. Due to the nature of his crimes, he has, arguably understandably, become a national hate figure, not least in prison, where he is serving a life sentence.
Huntley tried to commit suicide upon first entering prison in 2003, while awaiting trial, by taking an overdose of anti-depressant pills. Since then he has been given a guard of two prison officers who monitor his every move. He made a second attempt in 2006, which was also unsuccessful.
He has been targeted by his fellow inmates as well. He has had boiling water thrown in his face, narrowly avoided being stabbed and has been badly beaten. Most recently, he had his throat slashed by convicted robber and cocaine addict Damien Fowkes, who allegedly boasted that he wanted to be the man 'to kill Ian Huntley....he had it coming.'
I have to say that the article that I chose to peruse to glean this information, in the normally-perennially-outraged Daily Mail, was thankfully free from any really vicious deconstruction of personal injury claim cases and the laws that surround them. Of course, there were a few good points.
I have to say I agree with them. Personal injury compensation and the law that regulates it get a bad rap in the UK, thanks to people spying an opportunity for a quick buck trying to take a shortcut through them. In my view, as an advocate for the law on these matters, the law should remain in place, or at least the principle of it should.
We are all aware, in my industry, of Prime Minister David Cameron's open pledge to review the way the law works in relation to personal injury, fearing it costs the taxpayer too much money. When one reads of convicted killers (not only Huntley, but 'Essex Boys' murderer Michael Steele as well) claiming compensation for injuries sustained in prison, one can't help agreeing.
Huntley is believed to be seeking GBP20,000 for his injuries and a further GBP60,000 in punitive damages: damages awarded to ward the defendant (the prison service) off allowing the lapses that led to Huntley's injuries to happen again.
Norman Brennan, a retired policeman who is now the chairman of the Victims of Crime trust said, 'If Huntley had the slightest remorse for the terrible murder of these two girls he would drop the case immediately and get on with serving his sentence, and just be thankful it's not pre-1967 when he may well have been sentenced to the hangman's noose.'
I do agree that the law needs revised, not in terms of its operation, but in terms of to whom it applies. I concur with the commentators who opine that, once convicted of a crime as serious as this, the prisoner should forfeit their right to seek compensation, at least personally. It gives the industry, which is only interested in helping innocent accident victims get their lives back on track, a bad name.
If Huntley wants to highlight the fact that the prison service has neglected him, then he can do so without needing to pocket the punitive damages himself. If the prison authorities are found to have breached regulations by allowing dangerous prisoners access to him, then perhaps the award could be better used somewhere else: like invested in greater security checks for school staff (Huntley had previous sexual offences convictions which were not picked up when he applied to work in Soham Village College, where the girls went to school) or even better, awarded to the Wells and Chapman families, who received a sum widely regarded as being 'pitiful' for their ordeal.
The UK is a civilised country and we cannot allow prisoners, no matter how repugnant their crimes or characters, to be at risk of serious injury while they are behind bars. But they should surely be prohibited from making these high-cost, high-profile injury claims, which attract all the wrong sort of attention, both for themselves and for the law itself.
by: Richard Craig Searching For Automotive Exhausts? Don't Exhaust Yourself Out Tips On Getting Auto Loans For Bad Credit Essential Tips For Getting Bad Credit Auto Loans Understand How Bad Credit Auto Financing Lenders Think : And Get A Loan In 7 Days! Bono Makes 18 Million Dollar Injury Claim Automobile Market Sales Is Not Optimistic Five Steps Towards A Successful Injury Claim Opera Singer Injured In 15 Foot Stage Plunge Seeks Injury Claim The Chinese Automobile Spare Part Enterprise Leaves High Quality Has Far? The Best Car Insurance Suzuki Trucks Used Commercial Trucks Trucks For Sale By Owner