Incarceration Does Not Bring Compensation

In an unusual case, the House of Lords has confirmed that a person cannot benefit from their own wrongdoing.

The case concerned a man who had been a passenger involved in the Southall train disaster, in which 31 people were killed and more then 500 injured. It was later ruled that the cause of the accident was the negligence of employees of Thames Trains Ltd.

The man suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Whilst undergoing treatment for the condition, he had an altercation with a pedestrian, following which he drove home, picked up a knife and returned to find the pedestrian, whom he murdered. He was detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure for an indefinite period after the court accepted a plea of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The man then sued Thames Trains, claiming damages mainly for loss of earnings incurred as a result of his detention and arguing that its negligence was the cause of his action. There is precedent for this argument. In 2008, an employer was found to be liable for the suicide of one of its employees because the employer’s negligence had been the cause of post-traumatic stress disorder, which was found to be the cause of the suicide. In the Court of Appeal, this argument had been partially successful, the Court ruling that the claimant was entitled to compensation for loss of earnings for the period after his arrest and prior to his conviction because that period was not inextricably linked with the criminal act.

In the House of Lords, the claim failed altogether because of a rule which prohibits a person from obtaining recovery for damages which occur as a result of a sentence imposed for a criminal act. Other claims for loss of reputation, feelings of guilt and remorse and so on were also rejected.