Child Abuse Compensation Case Studies

Irwin Mitchell historically has undertaken a large number of both stand alone and group child abuse cases as well as public enquiries.

If you or someone you know has been affected by child abuse, our experts can help in the same way we helped our clients below. Fill in our online claims form for free legal advice.

Client A

IM has acted for a woman in her 30’s who had been in the care of Islington Council in 1970. Her stepfather, a convicted sex offender was granted unsupervised access to her and continued to abuse her very severely. The Claimant at the age of 6 spoke out, but despite this, the access continued as did the abuse until well into her teens. The Claimant successfully sued Islington Council achieving an out of court settlement of approximately £75,000 and in addition the Claimant was given an apology by the now Director of Social Services.

Client B

IM has represented 23 Claimants in the St Leonard’s group litigation. This group involved children in the 1960’s and 1970’s who were abused at the St Leonard’s Children’s Home in Hornchurch. The group consisted of 60 Claimants in total and the police conducted an investigation called Operation Mapperton leading to a number of arrests and convictions. All 23 cases resulted in successful out of court settlements of up to £75,000. Of the 23 cases, 15 were publicly funded with 8 being run on conditional fee agreements. No insurance was available for the conditional fee agreement cases despite applications. Of the private conditional fee agreement cases, all 8 successfully settled for sums ranging between £7,500 and £50,000.

Clients C & D

IM successfully represented Clients C and D twins with learning disabilities. Each received £25,000 compensation. The twin girls were resident in a children’s home in Lambeth where they suffered sexual abuse. It was alleged that the girls had been abused by the manager of the children’s home and a care worker. The police had conducted an operation called Operation Middleton which investigated Lambeth Children’s Home. Both of these cases were publicly funded.

Client E

IM represented a young man who sought advice just before his 21st birthday. His family had been known to social services for a considerable period of time particularly following a referral from the NSPCC. There were numerous concerns about his home life but he was not placed on the Child Protection Register. He was in fact suffering extreme abuse and neglect at home but was not removed until he was 14 years old. It was alleged on his behalf that he was then placed in unsuitable foster homes and despite not being ready to live alone, at the age of 16 he was placed in bed and breakfast accommodation whilst he was a very vulnerable young man. It was alleged that social services had failed in numerous areas including:

• Failing to investigate his situation when at home,
• Failed to remove him as a sufficiently early date
• Mismanaged his time in care.
• Not properly allocated a social worker
• The clients placements with foster carers were not properly managed or planned.

A claim was initiated on his behalf on an anonymised basis in the High Court just before his 21st birthday in September 2004. In June 2005, the case settled for an undisclosed 5 figure sum out of court.

Irwin Mitchell represented two 21 year olds. The young man was placed with foster carers when he was 3 years old and adopted by the same carers when he was 6 years old. The young girl was placed with the foster carers when she was 3 years old. When the girl was 7 years old she reported that she was being seriously and systematically abused by her foster father. Her report was not heeded or acted upon and the foster parents went on to adopt both children. Both children were subjected to extreme and systematic sexual abuse by the foster father. Neither believed it was worth speaking out again because their various reports had gone unheeded in the past. Finally, when the brother was 12 years old he told the police and they were subsequently removed. These cases settled out of court for £45,000 and £50,000 respectively.

Clients H & I

Irwin Mitchell currently represent 2 brothers who during their teenage years were subjected to sexual abuse by a trainee priest. The children were brought up in the catholic faith and had been altar boys. It transpired that there had been previous allegations of sexual abuse of boys by the trainee priest dating back to 1986 prior to the abuse suffered by the brothers. Indeed the trainee priests during the course of an investigation had previously admitted indecently assaulting a 17 year old boy. The church took no action to remove the priest or to alert the police. The older brother contacted the police in 2003 and the priest was arrested in December 2003. He was subsequently imprisoned for 4 years and a claim is now being brought against the church for failing to protect the brothers given the previous allegations of sexual abuse.

Client J

The Child Abuse Team at Irwin Mitchell are currently involved in a large number of cases involving small children who despite their dire home circumstances have remained at home to suffer abuse, assault and neglect. In these cases it is alleged that social services were negligent and in breach of their statutory duties not to remove the children from their homes when alerted to their plight and that these failures led to the continuation of abuse, neglect and damage. One of these cases involves a young man who is now 18 years old. He was born in 1988 and finally removed from his parental home in January 2003. However, his dire circumstances were known to social services from his birth and it was also known that his mother was a heavy drug user and his grandfather an abuser of children. In April 1994 the young man had disclosed that he was being systematically sexually abused by his grandfather but despite this his name was removed from the Child Protection Register in November 1995. Although liability is not formally admitted in this claim, it has been agreed that the case is going to be settled out of court.

Client K

Irwin Mitchell’s Child Abuse Team has also received instructions in relation to the physical injury of children. We are representing one child who was born in August 2000. Social services were involved in his life from a very early stage but when his mother went to live with a boyfriend who had previously abused children, social services did not intervene. In October 2002 the child had very serious injuries to his genitalia and other parts of his body. Despite this he was allowed to return home with his mother and stepfather. It is alleged that the investigation that followed was inappropriate and inadequate. The child was then physically assaulted again and on 4 December 2002 he went to hospital with multiple bruising with 33 injury sites across his body. A breach of duty has been admitted by the insurers representing the local authority for the period it failed to act.

If you or someone you know has been affected by child abuse, our experts can help claim compensation. Fill in our online claims form for free legal advice.

Alternatively, you can visit our child abuse compensation claims section for more information.