Burglar handed £5.5m payout after he was left with ‘kitchen phobia’ following knife attack in prison canteen
A BURGLAR has been awarded a £5.5 million payout after claiming he was left with a phobia of kitchens following a knife attack in a prison canteen.
Steven Wilson – who has a 20-year criminal record – suffered a torn liver, fractured spine and lacerated spinal cord during the incident in July 2018.
Convicted murderer Patrick Chandler attacked him “out of the blue” with a nine-inch knife whilst they both worked in the kitchen at HMP Chelmsford.
Wilson, 36, of Clacton-on -Sea, Essex, was on remand for an aggravated burglary – of which he was later convicted – when he was attacked.
He was later sentenced to six-and-a-half years’ imprisonment.
His previous offences involve criminal damage, theft, driving, breach of community orders and violence.
He successfully sued the Ministry of Justice, claiming the Government department had failed to adequately assess whether lifer Chandler was safe to work in such an environment.
‘YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND’
“When I see knives I feel cold,” Wilson said from the witness box at the High Court this morning.
“You don’t understand the chill I get when I see a knife.
“I can’t be in a kitchen or around knives because it reminds me of the attack.”
He was stabbed to the stomach with such force that it lifted him off the ground.
The MoJ admitted liability and agreed that Wilson is due compensation but contested the amount.
Government lawyers argued that due to Wilson’s long record, with “next to no history” of having earned an honest penny, he should not get the £5m-plus damages he was claiming.
However, Judge Melissa Clarke disagreed, awarding him the multi-million pound payout and also ordered the Government to pay his £546,000 lawyers’ bill on top.
At the time, Chandler was only 24 days into a life sentence, imposed for the brutal knife murder of John Comer, 45, in Lawford, Essex, in December 2017.
The formerly “fit and fearless” Wilson recalled Chandler “looking at him strangely” before he lashed out, as if he was “looking straight through him”.
Chandler later admitted attempting to murder Wilson and received an additional life sentence and 10-year minimum term in November 2018.
Chandler’s overall risk rating had been assessed by the MoJ as “medium”, court documents disclosed.
This was despite two weeks before the attack having allegedly told his supervisor that “he had fantasised about violence and what he was going to do to people and about making weapons”.
Wilson’s barrister, Giles Mooney KC, told the judge that, once off the operating table, he was treated in hospital for over two months and had to use a wheelchair.
He now needs a stick to get around, is plagued by chronic pain and cannot work due to the legacy of his attack.
Giving evidence, Wilson told the judge: “I went in there a perfectly fit young man and came out in a wheelchair.”
His ordeal has triggered flashbacks, PTSD and nightmares, he said, telling the court: “When I came out I kept seeing this man.
“I knew that he was behind bars, but I kept seeing him, I had dreams that he was chasing me and I’d wake up in a pool of sweat.”
During the trial of the case, MoJ barrister Richard Wheeler KC told the judge: “While the defendant accepts the claimant must be compensated for his injuries, that compensation must be fair, reasonable and just.”
He added that Wilson had a lengthy criminal record.
Although he had at one point claimed to have earned £800-a-week prior to going to jail, he had put forward “no evidence” of how he did this, the barrister said.
The MoJ argued that Wilson has made improvements in his condition since the attack and so does not need the level of care going forward that he claimed.
Mr Mooney, however, insisted that the MoJ had “seriously undervalued” the claim and that he deserves the payout he claimed.
“It is entirely accepted that Mr Wilson had a somewhat troubled and criminal past prior to the attack on him,” he told the judge.
‘CHERRY PICKING’ DETAILS
“However, the attack has left him with very serious injuries. He has extensive care, therapeutic and accommodation needs.”
Handing down judgment this morning, Judge Clarke said that some of the experts put forward by the Government Legal Department had during the trial “departed from an initial fair and independent approach to Mr Wilson’s case”.
One expert was criticised for “cherry picking” excerpts from video surveillance evidence, whilst another had “lost sight of the fact that his first duty was to the court and was actively seeking to persuade the court to make a lower award,” the judge said.
“I have asked that there should be some introspection by the Government Legal Department on this and whether experts were asked to move away to more partisan and unfair analysis,” she said.
“I understand there has now been some such introspection by the Government Legal Department and I shall say no more about it.”
She went on to award a compensation payout of just under £5.5m, with Wilson’s legal bill of £546,030.99 on top.
The judge ordered the Government to pay £400,000 up front in regard to the legal costs bill.