| Flowers in Gods Garden
- Articles |
02/07/99
- Mother loses compensation battle
BBC News
The mother of a girl who was killed by a former psychiatric
patient has lost her appeal for compensation from the
hospital who looked after him.
On Friday the Court of Appeal rejected Beverley Palmer's
compensation claim against Tees Health Authority who
she accused of being responsible for her three-year-old
daughter Rosie's murder. She was suing on the basis
that she had suffered mental distress as a result of
the murder .
She told the court that she became a "psychological
wreck" after Rosie was abducted, murdered and mutilated
by Shaun Armstrong in 1994. She said she was no longer
able to work, had attempted suicide several times and
had been sectioned under the Mental Health Act as a
result.
Mrs Palmer was seeking £200,000 compensation from
Tees Health Authority which she claimed had failed to
assess Armstrong's risk to the community. The health
authority said it no longer had a duty of care for Armstrong
after he was released from hospital in 1993.
The High Court threw out a similar claim by Mrs Palmer
last year. The case centred on a legal argument that,
because Mrs Palmer had not witnessed her daughter's
murder, she was not close enough to the event to sue
for the kind of damages she was demanding. Lord Justice
Stuart-Smith said he upheld the High Court ruling.
But he said it was "impossible not to have the
deepest sympathy for Mrs Palmer for this truly appalling
catastrophe".
Psychiatric problems
Armstrong, who had been sexually abused as a child and
had a history of psychiatric problems, was admitted
to Hartlepool General Hospital after attempting suicide
five times between 1992 and 1993.
He also had a drink and drugs problem and had been accused
of sexual abuse. He told staff he had sexual feelings
towards children and warned that he would kill a child
on his release. He was discharged from the hospital
in 1993 and housed near the Palmer family in Hartlepool.
Rosie was seized after she bought a lolly from an ice
cream van outside her home in June 1994. Police searched
for her for three days before they found her mutilated
body.
Armstrong, aged 37, has been jailed for life for Rosie's
murder. The Palmer case, which may go to the House of
Lords, brought calls for tighter controls of community
care patients. Last year, the government announced plans
to overhaul the system.
It has also ordered a review of mental health legislation
with a view to increasing controls on community care
patients deemed a risk to the public. |
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