Damages of £100,000 Awarded to Couple with Learning Disabilities

A couple with learning disabilities in West London were terrorised in their own flat by a gang of 'feral' youths. The attack sounds prolonged and unbelievably nasty.

Hounslow Council argued that they owed no duty of care to the couple, because legal precedents had laid down that the duty is only owed to children.

However, the High Court judge ruled the council negligent in failing to move the couple before the attack.

This case is the first in which a local authority has been held to be under a duty of care to protect vulnerable adults from abuse by third parties.

The judge awarded damages of nearly £100,000 and said the council should have transferred the family to other housing at November 2000 at the very latest. Hounslow has been given leave to appeal.

A court award of damages has rather more force than an Ombudsman recommendation for compensation - the individuals involved in the Trafford case which we mentioned some time ago, where the Ombudsman had suggested large compensation, are on the last report still waiting because Trafford have refused to pay. They have no recourse on this: a government minister has said "it is a matter for the ballot box".

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