OMAGH CLAIMS ORDEAL PROBE
OMAGH CLAIMS ORDEAL PROBE
Process 'degraded' survivor
THE Government has launched a probe into why a victim of the Omagh bomb outrage had to strip to her underwear during her campaign for compensation.
Rosemary Ingrain was subjected to a "degrading" ordeal in front of six lawyers, three of whom were men, while her case was examined.
Mrs Ingram, 53, has told how one of those assessing her scars even moved her underwear to one side to get a better look at the wounds inflicted during the August 1998 atrocity. A Northern Ireland Office spokeswoman yesterday confirmed Victims' Minister Des Browne had started an inquiry into the circumstances of her compensation case last April.
She said: "We recognise this is a sensitive and painful issue for all concerned and the greatest possible care is taken in assessing compensation.
"The minister, Des Browne, is aware of Mrs Ingram's case and is checking into the issue."
Mrs Ingram suffered shrapnel injuries to her legs, buttock, head and right shoulder after being caught in the Real IRA explosion which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.
Despite photos taken by her husband Tom, Mrs Ingram said she was made to feel like a victim all over again when she went before the compensation agency panel.
"It was almost as if I wasn't believed," she said.
"I had to virtually strip to prove it, and that was not only embarrassing but degrading and humiliating -and felt like interrogation."
Former Northern Ireland Victims Commissioner Sir Kenneth Bloomfield said he accepted that compensation claims needed to be properly examined but said it should be done by the "most sympathetic means available".
Sir Kenneth, who chaired a review of criminal injuries compensation, said: "I think any element of in-sensitivity is to be deplored.
"Every public official dealing with any of these victims and their problems should ask himself or herself the question 'suppose this was a relative of mine, is that how I would like them to be treated?'
"That is the standard that I would like to see applied."
He questioned why the victims needed to be examined by lawyers when there were full medical reports on their injuries.
"I find it difficult myself to understand why reputable medical reports should not be accepted."
Kevin Skelton described how he took his 16-year-old daughter Shauna, whose face was scarred in the Omagh bomb, to be examined by lawyers from the Northern Ireland Office at the High Court in Belfast.
He said that the lawyers had insisted on seeing her even though there was a "nine inch thick" file of medical reports on her injuries.
"What really annoyed me was when the boy walked out of the room the comment that he made to another barrister that it would be far worse if both sides of her face had been scarred," he told the World at One.
He said that his daughter had been devastated by the insensitivity of the lawyer's remark.
"She cried when she come home. She was absolutely gutted. It is bad enough having a scar on your face, a young girl of her age, without somebody making sarcastic remarks like that. I was devastated," he said.
"There is no need for that. I understand they have to check everybody out, that everything's above board but comments like that were totally out of line altogether."
Process 'degraded' survivor
THE Government has launched a probe into why a victim of the Omagh bomb outrage had to strip to her underwear during her campaign for compensation.
Rosemary Ingrain was subjected to a "degrading" ordeal in front of six lawyers, three of whom were men, while her case was examined.
Mrs Ingram, 53, has told how one of those assessing her scars even moved her underwear to one side to get a better look at the wounds inflicted during the August 1998 atrocity. A Northern Ireland Office spokeswoman yesterday confirmed Victims' Minister Des Browne had started an inquiry into the circumstances of her compensation case last April.
She said: "We recognise this is a sensitive and painful issue for all concerned and the greatest possible care is taken in assessing compensation.
"The minister, Des Browne, is aware of Mrs Ingram's case and is checking into the issue."
Mrs Ingram suffered shrapnel injuries to her legs, buttock, head and right shoulder after being caught in the Real IRA explosion which killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.
Despite photos taken by her husband Tom, Mrs Ingram said she was made to feel like a victim all over again when she went before the compensation agency panel.
"It was almost as if I wasn't believed," she said.
"I had to virtually strip to prove it, and that was not only embarrassing but degrading and humiliating -and felt like interrogation."
Former Northern Ireland Victims Commissioner Sir Kenneth Bloomfield said he accepted that compensation claims needed to be properly examined but said it should be done by the "most sympathetic means available".
Sir Kenneth, who chaired a review of criminal injuries compensation, said: "I think any element of in-sensitivity is to be deplored.
"Every public official dealing with any of these victims and their problems should ask himself or herself the question 'suppose this was a relative of mine, is that how I would like them to be treated?'
"That is the standard that I would like to see applied."
He questioned why the victims needed to be examined by lawyers when there were full medical reports on their injuries.
"I find it difficult myself to understand why reputable medical reports should not be accepted."
Kevin Skelton described how he took his 16-year-old daughter Shauna, whose face was scarred in the Omagh bomb, to be examined by lawyers from the Northern Ireland Office at the High Court in Belfast.
He said that the lawyers had insisted on seeing her even though there was a "nine inch thick" file of medical reports on her injuries.
"What really annoyed me was when the boy walked out of the room the comment that he made to another barrister that it would be far worse if both sides of her face had been scarred," he told the World at One.
He said that his daughter had been devastated by the insensitivity of the lawyer's remark.
"She cried when she come home. She was absolutely gutted. It is bad enough having a scar on your face, a young girl of her age, without somebody making sarcastic remarks like that. I was devastated," he said.
"There is no need for that. I understand they have to check everybody out, that everything's above board but comments like that were totally out of line altogether."
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/443
Published Date: 27-Aug-02
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