| Flowers in Gods Garden
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22/06/99
- Mother takes murder damages claim to appeal court
Clare Dyer, Legal Correspondent
Guardian
A mother who became a "psychological wreck"
after her four-year-old daughter was abducted, murdered
and mutilated by a psychopath released from hospital,
took her battle for compensation to the court of appeal
yesterday.
Beverley Palmer's claim for £200,000 damages against
Tees health authority and Hartlepool and East Durham
NHS trust, responsible for the care of the man who killed
her daughter Rosie, was struck out by a high court judge
in April last year.
The case is believed to be the first claim against a
health authority or trust by a relative of a released
patient's murder victim. Shaun Armstrong, now 37, seized
Rosie after she bought an ice lolly from a van outside
her home in June 1994, and was jailed for life for her
murder.
Armstrong had been discharged from Hartlepool general
hospital in Cleveland and re-housed near the Palmer
family in 1993. Robert Sherman, representing Mrs Palmer,
41, of Hartlepool, told three appeal judges that Armstrong
had been born of an incestuous relationship between
his mother and her father.
His mother had sexually abused him. He had frequent
hospital stays after suicide attempts. Although he had
been diagnosed years before as "deeply disturbed",
there were no follow-up assessments or treatment, said
Mr Sherman.
No attempt was made by the health authority to find
out about his medical history when he came under its
care in 1992, although it was known he was a violent
man with a drink and drugs problem who had sexually
abused children.
In June 1993 he told a student nurse, who admitted him
without supervision, that he had sexual feelings towards
children and that a child would die if he was released
from hospital. Yet he was released without a follow-up
address, Mr Sherman alleged.
Between July 1993 and May 1994 he was seen a few times
as an out-patient, but he was still given no treatment,
nor was his mental state adequately explored. "We
are not dealing with an act of minor incompetence or
negligence.
We are dealing with a catalogue of errors which at least
reached the level of gross negligence." Mr Sherman
said Beverley Palmer was 36 at the time of the abduction.
She had two children, was happy with her second husband,
and had a demanding job as a community nurse.
The effect of the murder was to leave her with a severe
psychiatric disorder. She had been diagnosed as suffering
from post-traumatic stress disorder and pathological
grief reaction, and was was no longer able to work.
She had attempted suicide several times and was at one
time sectioned under the mental health act. And she
had lost the care of her other child. In April last
year Mr Justice Gage dismissed her claim.
Mr Sherman told Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, Lord Justice
Pill and Lord Justice Thorpe "the fair and reasonable
man would consider it offensive" for the law to
deny compensation to Mrs Palmer.
To succeed in her compensation claim, Mrs Palmer would
have to prove that the risk of harm to her daughter
was foreseeable. But the main hurdle is the Lords ruling
in the Hillsborough case, which laid down that relatives
must be "close in time and space" to the incident
to claim damages for psychological trauma.
She did not witness the attack, and it was not until
three days later that her daughter's body was found
in a bin liner at the flat.
The case continues. |
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