Family shocked as schoolboy victim of hammer attack loses payout ruling

The family of a teenager who was brain damaged in a hammer attack at his school said yesterday they were "deeply shocked and disappointed" at the failure of his compensation claim.

Henry Webster was 15 when he was repeatedly punched, kicked and hit

with the sharp end of a claw hammer in an assault by a gang of Asian pupils and young men on the tennis courts at Ridgeway School in Wroughton, near Swindon, Wiltshire, in January 2007.

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Now 18, he claimed there was a negligent failure by the school, which denied liability, to maintain proper discipline and deal with racial tension.

His mother Elizabeth, 14-year-old brother Joseph, and stepfather Roger Durnford, of Beranburgh Field, Wroughton, also sought compensation for the trauma of witnessing his injuries.

But High Court judge Mr Justice Nicol said their claims must all fail as the school did not breach its duty to take reasonable care to keep Henry reasonably safe while on its premises, and the necessary causal link had not been proved.

After the ruling in Manchester, the family said in a statement: "We are deeply shocked and disappointed with the judge's decision. We are in the process of analysing and coming to terms with the judge's analysis.

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"We must express our immense gratitude to all of the individuals who gave their time to come to court and give evidence on Henry's part."

The judge said Mr Webster, who has been left with problems with short-term memory and concentration, was the victim of a "brutal and criminal attack, which was very nearly fatal and left him with serious injuries".

He added: "Those immediately responsible have been prosecuted and punished.

"If they had any money, they could also be sued in the civil courts.

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"No one, let alone an innocent 15-year-old boy, should have had to put up with the pain and suffering that he has had to endure.

"The shock of seeing him lying in a pool of blood must have been traumatic for his brother, mother and stepfather.

"Yet the sympathy which everyone must feel for the claimants cannot determine whether the Ridgeway School is liable to pay them compensation."

The chairman of governors at the school, Peter Lay, said: "We completely empathise with Henry Webster and his family. He suffered a serious assault at the school in January 2007.

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"We were extremely pleased the police were able to successfully prosecute the perpetrators of that crime and custodial sentences given.

"The incident was investigated internally, comprehensively, and we found no evidence of negligence on the part of the school. If we had, we would have taken action internally.

"Naturally the court case was lengthy, some six weeks with 52

witnesses.

"We believe the fact that all eight points with which liability was argued were dismissed by the judge vindicates the school in defeating the suggestion that the event was caused by failure on the school's part."

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Mr Webster had agreed to fight a boy "one on one" to end the harassment which he thought he and his friends were experiencing and because of peer pressure.

The ensuing attack, which happened when four boys pointed him out to three Asian men who had arrived in cars, lasted about one minute and it was the six blows from a hammer produced by one of the intruders which left the teenager suffering from a depressed skull fracture.

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