COMPENSATION CLAIMS THAT STINK...

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Nine foreign criminals held in jail for extra time have been handed pay-outs totalling £55,000 by the Home Office. The foreigners claimed compensation because of mistakes made while they were being held beyond their original jail term. Director general of the Home Office's Immigration and Nationality Directorate, Lin Homer, said she hoped the risk of repeating similar errors had been "minimised".

She said, "Since April 1, 2006 the department has paid, or payments are being processed to, nine claimants and the sum total of these taken together is £55,500. Typically, compensation has been paid out in these cases due to technical deficiencies around serving the detainee with appropriate legal documents. We have reviewed our processes and I am confident we are minimising the risks of such failures reoccurring." (Source: Mail on Sunday, Feb/07)

Crack-addict robber, Earl White, who was shot as he tried to mow down a police officer has won legal aid to sue them. White is demanding £250,000 compensation for his injury despite being jailed by a judge. He was wounded after being surrounded in his car by armed officers, one of whom he drove at. The policeman’s gun went off accidentally as he leapt out of the way and the bullet went through the driver’s seat of the car, striking White in the back.

White managed to make his getaway and pulled the bullet out with his bare hands rather than go to a hospital. Just days later he was back at “work”, burgling homes. Scotland Yard vowed to fight the lawsuit by White and a probe cleared the officer whose gun went off of criminal charges. But he could face a misconduct hearing. (Source: The Sun, Nov/06)

A teenager who fell through a roof while he was trespassing on private property has received £567,000 in compensation. Carl Murphy sued the owner of a warehouse after suffering serious head injuries when he plunged 40ft to the floor as a nine-year-old in 1996. Victims of crime groups yesterday reacted angrily to the payout, which is 50 times more than the family of a murder victim can expect to receive from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority. Mr Murphy, of Seaforth, Merseyside, suffered brain damage in the accident which was said by doctors to have caused such severe behavioural problems that he was expelled from two schools in the two years after his recovery. “After all I’ve been through, I feel I really deserve this money,” he said.

Clive Elliott, of the Victims of Crime Trust, said, however, that the payout reflected a massive inconsistency in the payments offered to victims and criminals. He said, “All rights to compensation should cease the moment that person breaks the law. In victims’ compensation the most a family will receive in a murder case is £11,000. There is a real flaw in the system. If the Government makes a gesture by allowing money to go to people who have been wronged, it should equally penalise anybody who does anything wrong when they are claiming. Wrongdoers think they are beyond the law, and in this case they can become quite well off by breaking it.”

Mr Murphy fell through the roof of Container Care park in Bootle docks after trespassing with a group of friends. He was expelled from his primary school in Bootle within a week of returning after the accident, given a home tutor, but that ended when he threatened her with violence. He missed ten months of school before being enrolled at Nugent House, Billinge, a school for children with behavioural problems, in November 1998, but was expelled 18 months later.

His family took the now defunct company to court four years ago, claiming that it should have repaired security fencing to prevent children from playing on the site. Their claim was successful and he received the money on his 18th birthday yesterday. Mr Murphy is currently living with his grandmother because his mother Diane and her boyfriend, Kevin Parsons are serving three years in prison for setting up a heroin and crack cocaine business from their council house. (Source: Times Online)

A prison worker was awarded £100,000 compensation for post- traumatic stress after she witnessed a hostage drama that was just a training exercise. Sandra Hickinbotham said she was terrified when she saw three masked "inmates", one armed with a knife, taking a prison nurse hostage. After mounting a legal action against the Home Office, she was offered £30,000 to settle out-of-court. She turned the figure down and has now got £100,000. Two other staff who also saw the mock incident, a nurse who has retired on medical grounds and a male prison officer who is now taking Holy Orders, accepted smaller sums. The training exercise took place at Birmingham Prison in 1998 where Mrs Hickinbotham worked as a £12,000-a-year administration clerk.

Sandra Hickinbotham's £100,000 award is the latest in a string of compensation claims that make a mockery of our judicial system.

Heroin addict prisoner Philip Gorman was awarded almost £5,000 compensation out-of-court for suffering a cut thumb while dismantling a bed frame.

Social worker Thelma Conway won £140,000 in 2001. She became depressed and short-tempered after working up to 80 hours a week, in a care home in Redditch, Worcs, after the previous manager left. She said she was not competent enough for the extra responsibility.

Dr Celia Jane Battley won nearly £500,000 in 1998 after pricking her finger on a syringe left on a hospital trolley.

A prison officer who suffered psychological trauma after working on a sex offender programme for a year as a tutor, was awarded £150,000 High Court damages.

A £100,000 payout was given to a teacher tricked into giving an elderly colleague a chocolate willy in 1998. Ex-deputy head Anthony Ratcliffe won damages for an alleged ordeal of bullying. He suffered a nervous breakdown after a year of torment in which he claimed he was isolated, ignored and ridiculed by a colleague.

Karl Bradley Jones was awarded £248,000 because his foot slipped THREE INCHES down an uncovered drain.

Derek Hersey sued the Home Office for nearly £300,000 after claiming the bed in his cell at Camp Hill Prison on the Isle of Wight was too hard.

Michael Ashton launched a damages claim after saying he got too sweaty in a prison van.

Philip Gorman sued prison chiefs after cutting his thumb on a bed during refurbishment work at Perth Prison in 1996. He eventually settled out of court.

John Palmer, who once attacked a man with a sledgehammer and had sex with a 13-year-old girl, claimed he spent too long behind bars because the Home Office failed to prioritise his case.

A college lecturer won £80,000 compensation for stress she suffered in a 70-hour-a-week job.

Peter Musgrove sued the Home Office in 2000 after being refused permission to have visits at another jail.

... and here's what decent people get ...

Sara Payne got just £11,000 after her little daughter Sarah, seven, was murdered.

Nursery nurse Lisa Potts, who saved kids from a machete nut, was awarded £49,000

Francesca Quintyne, eight, had to appeal to get £23,000 for injuries in the same attack.

Alex, the son of Rachel Nickell who saw his mother stabbed 40 times on Wimbledon Common in 1992, was given just £22,000.

The family of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor were granted just £10,000.