Bill's Story
Bill was enjoying a quiet drink after work with a friend on 30th April 1999 in the Admiral Duncan public house in Soho, London. Suddenly and without warning a bomb exploded in the pub which led to him sustaining multiple life threatening injuries. These included severe bone and soft tissue damage to the left leg and ultimately a below knee amputation. His right leg sustained multiple soft tissue injuries and the force of the explosion caused burns affecting over 55% of his body.
He was critically ill for many months and in fact was maintained on a ventilator for approximately 5 weeks. He underwent a multitude of surgical operations before making a slow recovery.
Because of this firm's national reputation for dealing with high value complex personal injury claims, we were asked by a representative of the Metropolitan Police to assist Bill and other seriously injured victims of the explosion. We immediately submitted an Application for Criminal Injuries Compensation and guided and supported Bill through the process of assessment. Unfortunately the CICA refused to fund the detailed medical evidence which was essential to establish the extent of Bill's injuries and allow both them and us to value his claim. These reports were therefore paid for by Bill himself.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority eventually - after 6 years made an offer to Bill of £96,000 in full and final settlement of his claim. After very many months of detailed negotiations with the CICA we are pleased to say that we were able to persuade them to increase their offer by a factor of almost 5 - to £430,000 - an offer which Bill has accepted.
This is an example of how important legal representation can be in complex Criminal Injuries Compensation claims. The award has permitted Bill to start rebuilding his life after the terrible experiences of 30th April 1999.
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