|
|
 |
| |
Ryan St George with his aunt Margaret |
FINALLY, IT'S JUSTICE FOR TRAGIC RYAN
Home Office faces multi-million payout over prison injury
A FATHER’S 11-year fight against the prison service which failed his son has ended in a momentous victory and cleared the way for a potential multi-million pound compensation payout.
Ryan St George, 40, went to jail for petty theft but left critically brain-damaged and unable to do anything for himself due to a series of tragic blunders by prison staff.
He is cared for round the clock but his family said he has effectively been “killed by incompetence”.
The Home Office was put on alert yesterday (Wednesday) morning that it faces paying for Ryan’s future round-the-clock needs as part of a weighty compensation package.
Lord Justice Dyson threw out an appeal against an earlier High Court ruling that found Brixton Prison responsible for Ryan’s desperate injuries.
Home Office lawyers had claimed that any compensation should be tempered because Ryan, who was 29 when he was handed a short prison term for stealing batteries, had brought problems on himself through his own “lifestyle choices” and history of using banned intravenous drugs.
But Lord Justice Dyson ruled Ryan’s addiction, which began in his teens, was too “remote” to be a key factor in his horrific brain injuries and blamed the damage on the chilling sequence of events which unfolded in the Brixton cells during November 1997.
Ryan, who had a flat in Gresse Street, Bloomsbury, was assigned a top bunk bed in the jail despite a history of epileptic seizures, known to get worse during withdrawal from drugs.
Just days into his sentence, he fell from the bed while “fitting” and cracked his head on the floor.
As he lay on the floor gasping for life and with a four inch wound pumping blood from his forehead, paramedics were delayed for 30 minutes before they got to treat him, a wait described as “culpable” at an earlier High Court hearing and blamed on “the arrogant and unacceptable attitude of a particular prison officer.”
Evidence revealed the added delay caused by a broken-down prison van at the prison gates, which hampered the progress of the ambulance.
In the wait for medical help, Ryan’s brain was starved of oxygen, causing irreparable damage.
He was even given the last rites and several experts are astounded that Ryan is still alive.
David St George, his father, from Kentish Town, has been fighting for compensation ever since, navigating a claim through a series of legal hurdles, court hearings and counter appeals.
He was in court to hear what should be the final ruling on the case.
Mr St George said yesterday: “It took 11 years to get this far – but it was over in just a few moments when the judgment was handed down. It shouldn’t have taken this long. We’ve been waiting so long but we are all over the moon.”
He thanked his legal team from Hodge, Jones and Allen, who have persevered with the case. A final compensation payout will not be known until Ryan’s needs are assessed but it could ultimately represent one of the largest sums ever paid out by the Home Office.
Mr St George, a crime reporter who is the longest-serving journalist in the Old Bailey’s press room, said: “We have won the case for Ryan – but the sad thing is, he will never know.”
Ryan, a former William Ellis school pupil, was a promising artist also once known for his love of a game of football and support of the old Wimbledon football club.
Since his catastrophic brain damage, the team has relocated out of London to Milton Keynes. He would never know.
Ryan, now needing 24-hour care, is currently looked after on a day-to day-basis by his aunt Margaret in a council flat in Camden Town. Friends say she rarely lets her loving eyes off him, and has vowed to make sure her nephew is never forgotten.
Ryan cannot speak or feed himself. His eyes flicker but his family do not know for sure what he understands and recognises.
Mr St George said: “Compensation will pay for Ryan’s future. We can only pray that prison staff have learnt from this case and that vulnerable inmates are better protected.”
He added: “Prison staff have been criticised by the court for not acting quickly enough and delaying care for him. It’s not about money. It’s about the prison staff failing to acknowledge they were at fault.
“A series of cock-ups and cover-ups left Ryan without vital oxygen. He was effectively killed by incompetence.”
Yesterday’s ruling said that Ryan’s fateful seizure could have been “foreseeable” and that it would not be “just and equitable” to reduce compensation payments. |
 |
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
