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OK, so this is a bit of a continuation piece from my last article covering criminal injuries – for two reasons. 1. There are a couple more stories Id like to share with you on the subject, and 2. I’d like to go in to a little more detail on the mechanics of a claim for criminal injury!

If you keep up to date with the news (and TV soaps – read on to see what I mean), then you may have heard the story of 25 year old actress Charlotte Davies who has been left blinded in one eye from an assault on a night out in a club, accroding to sources from the Mirror (source). After asking a woman to leave her friend alone following an altercation, the woman speared her in the eye with a broken glass, leaving Charlotte with horrific and life altering injuries.

Charlotte, who has reportedly had minor roles in Hollyoaks and Coronation Street, says her acting dreams are in tatters following the assault in Manchester’s Living Room bar; a place popular with Premiership football stars. The bar are currently reviewing its safety regulations in light of the incident. This is a tragic assault that has left a young budding actress with a permanent disability; lets hope she can still make a success of her career in the acting limelight!
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Former drink and drug addict, Ryan St George, 42, was serving a four month jail sentence at Brixton jail back in 1997 when he took an epileptic fit and fell from his prison bunk bed banging his head on the floor. What happened next was a series of events that left St George needing constant care for the rest of his life.

Once the guards had been alerted to St George’s accident they called for an Ambulance. The Paramedics were delayed in treating St george because their Ambulance was blocked from entering the prison gates by a parked van. Prison warders then argued who should accompany St George to the hospital, further delaying treatment. One Paramedic was quoted as saying St George’s condition was, “in as bad a state as a person can be without being dead.”

Upon hearing the evidence against the Home Office, High Court judge Mr Justice Mackay, ordered that the former prisoner should receive £4.7 Million in compensation. He also told the Home Office that they must pay St George £45,000 rent for a new flat.

Accidents abroad – so how do they work? You may or may not know that most of us specialist personal injury solicitors can only really deal with claims in the UK – but we can in the majority of instances deal with accidents abroad on holidays! So how does it work?

Well, if you have an accident abroad on holiday, which was booked through a package holiday, and the accident occurred on premises inclusive on the package, or perhaps during an activity included or related to the package, then you can in most cases actually claim against the package holiday provider!

Its covered under (see if you can guess the name!) The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992 (www.opsi.gov.uk), and it’s a key pieces of legislation us lawyers need when it comes to pursuing this type of claim on behalf of the client.
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Wilfried Fesselmann is an extremely hurt and angry man, and after you hear his story, you can’t fault the man for feeling this way. Mr Fesselmann claims he was abused by Rev. Peter Hullermann when he was just 11 years old. The then young Fesselmann confided in a friend about his nightmare, who inturn told Fesselmann’s parents. They acted accordingly and after the complaint was made, the Catholic Church, relocated the Rev. Peter Hullermann and ordered him to take therapy.

It’s just another awful story, one of thousands that has surfaced recently about the failings of the Catholic Church in their accountability to properly deal with the scores of twisted pedophile priests.

Wilfried Fesselmann is demanding an apology from Pope Benedict XVI but furthermore he is looking to be compensated for his turmoil “even if the church goes bankrupt.”
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Another story of a rather unusual road traffic accident type incident; and perhaps a lesson to be learned on making sure that not just your driving needs to be up to standards, but your towing needs to be safe as well…

According to sources from the BBC (BBC news source), a man has been fined after a teacher suffered severe injuries when a runaway trailer collided with his bicycle as he was training for a triathlon. It was at one stage feared that Kevin Hamilton would lose his leg after suffering damage to the leg, pelvis and hip area following the incident. Thankfully, following surgery, several weeks in hospital, and reportedly Mr Hamilton’s courage, he was informed he will make a recovery.

The court that Mr Hamilton was cycling on the A489, Abergwyddol, when the trailer detached from contractor Michael Byrne’s oncoming van. The trailer consequently collided with Mr Hamilton with force, throwing him in to the air. He landed back on the road and reportedly ‘bounced’ in to a nearby hedge causing him his severe injuries.
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I’ve done a few articles over the last few months on the topic of product recalls. The big one I am sure you all know about is the ongoing Toyota recalls. But its difficult to hear of a product recall that has become existent following the deaths of product users; and even more so that the cases involve young children…

According to sources from Sky News, two popular baby slings are being recalled in the UK following links to the deaths of three youngsters in the US (source).
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Just after my recent post about the government declining canine insurance cover, I read about the tragic story of a young girl viciously attacked by a dog; leaving her with horrific and serious injuries…

The dog in question is said to be a family dog, and not of a breed currently illegal in the UK; a French Bullmastiff. According to sources from the Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1260070/Girl-2-jaw-ripped-family-dog.html) the animal turned on the young girl and ended up ripping her jaw off, and was subsequently killed by the girl’s father whom saved his daughters life by stabbing the animal with a kitchen knife.
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Roads are dangerous places – it’s a fact! And as safe as we make them with speed limits and the strict rules of the road, on occasions accidents just cannot be avoided. As specialist personal injury lawyers, we represent countless victims in traffic accidents – and we have seen some remarkable collisions over the years, believe you me!

But this next story really is remarkable! I can honestly say I have never heard of anything like it before! And thankfully, tragedy was averted.
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Anyone a football fan? If you support a team like I do (Hull City AFC), then you may relate to the contents of this one – The saying “roller-coaster of a ride” is probably an understatement given my teams, highs and lows in the last two to three seasons! And a heart attack at a football stadium is apparently not uncommon given the emotional pendulum we fans endure through at a match; in fact, according to sources form the BBC, European football grounds lack the essential equipment required to save the life of a person suffering form heart attack on the premises (source)! 

The report quotes that most stadiums consider having this type of equipment to be good practice (Referring to Hull’s performance again, I would like to think KC Stadium has got a few of these!)  – However, the conclusions from a recent study indicate that more than a quarter of a 187 grounds analysed did not have defibrillators on site; and many didn’t even have any emergency planning in place.
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A form of group “talking therapy” is a cheap, effective way to alleviate low back pain, a UK trial has shown. According to the BBC, the positive effect was still seen a year after the short six-session therapy programme, the Lancet reported.

The 600 patients taking part in the trial were also offered standard GP treatment including pain medication.

The sessions were designed to tackle unhelpful beliefs about back pain and physical activity and help patients better manage their condition.
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