Monday, August 1st, 2016
SH and JT v Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
Jillian Martin Brown successfully acted on behalf of two victims of childhood sexual abuse in an appeal against the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority’s refusal to make an award on the basis of time bar. A third victim had reported the abuse of numerous children to the police in 2013 and the appellants made their application for compensation in 2016, outwith the two year time limit. No exceptional circumstances were considered to have prevented earlier application.
Jillian argued that the commencement of the limitation period began when the appellants themselves reported their abuse to the police in 2014, not when theother victim did so. Consequently, the application was not out of time. In any event, there were very disturbing and difficult facts in these cases which amounted to exceptional circumstances which prevented the appellants applying earlier. The First-tier Tribunal concluded that the application was not out of time, allowed the appeal and remitted the question of quantum back to the Authority.