OMAGH CLAIMANT HAD TO STRIP FOR COMPENSATION
Omagh claimant had to strip for compensation
A VICTIM of the Omagh bombing has revealed how she was asked to undergo a humiliating strip ordeal in her fight for compensation.
Rosemary Ingram, 53, had to stand and undress to her underwear in front of six lawyers - three of them male - while they examined her wounds.
One even pulled an undergarment aside to get a better look at her injuries.
Rosemary, a former traffic warden who was helping to redirect traffic that fateful day, was scarred by flying shrapnel and debris which tore into her legs and backs.
Four years later, Mrs Ingram is still traumatised by the attack and still has not received the compensation designed to help her move on with her life.
For her, the fight for justice now involves fighting the Government as well as the Real IRA car bombers.
Doctors' and surgeons' reports as well as photographs of the raw sores and scars of injuries were not enough for the Northern Ireland Compensation Agency.
"I was asked to take off my clothes and show the scars," said Mrs Ingram.
"But what I didn't know at the time was that I could have refused. No one told me I had a choice," she added.
She feels it is unacceptable that any woman should have to undress in front of officials.
"Apparently they need to see the scars after they have healed, so they can cut the level of compensation," she said.
Mrs Ingram said she felt like a victim all over again, as she stood humiliated in front of the legal representatives.
Her husband Tom put his jacket around her during the ordeal at a room at the High Court in Belfast.
Following solicitors advice, Mr Ingram had already submitted pictures of his wife's injuries taken after her release from the Erne Hospital in 1998.
She said the law must be changed so that men women and children are not humiliated in this way.
"What they don't see are the emotional scars and the terrible nightmares. It was so bad the other night I had to take a pillow and rest at the front door so that I could get some fresh air. I felt as thought everything was closing in around me," she said.
Every day she recalls the trauma of the Omagh bomb.
Mrs Ingram still has pieces of shrapnel moving around inside her body.
"They break out through the skin on my legs, back and there is even one on my cheek which has been bleeding. The surgeon told me it was like old war wounds. But it is very painful and feels like I'm being jabbed with a needle," she said.
The former traffic warden who says she could have worked until retirement age, has been medically discharged from her job.
"There are quite a few people still waiting for compensation, but I don't know why mine has been dragged out for so long, when many other claims have been settled," she said.
A spokeswoman for the Northern Ireland office said that they were now reviewing the matter.
But she added: "When a scar has to be viewed and clothing has to be removed it is always done with the utmost sensitivity to the victim's wishes. It is in no way invasive."
A VICTIM of the Omagh bombing has revealed how she was asked to undergo a humiliating strip ordeal in her fight for compensation.
Rosemary Ingram, 53, had to stand and undress to her underwear in front of six lawyers - three of them male - while they examined her wounds.
One even pulled an undergarment aside to get a better look at her injuries.
Rosemary, a former traffic warden who was helping to redirect traffic that fateful day, was scarred by flying shrapnel and debris which tore into her legs and backs.
Four years later, Mrs Ingram is still traumatised by the attack and still has not received the compensation designed to help her move on with her life.
For her, the fight for justice now involves fighting the Government as well as the Real IRA car bombers.
Doctors' and surgeons' reports as well as photographs of the raw sores and scars of injuries were not enough for the Northern Ireland Compensation Agency.
"I was asked to take off my clothes and show the scars," said Mrs Ingram.
"But what I didn't know at the time was that I could have refused. No one told me I had a choice," she added.
She feels it is unacceptable that any woman should have to undress in front of officials.
"Apparently they need to see the scars after they have healed, so they can cut the level of compensation," she said.
Mrs Ingram said she felt like a victim all over again, as she stood humiliated in front of the legal representatives.
Her husband Tom put his jacket around her during the ordeal at a room at the High Court in Belfast.
Following solicitors advice, Mr Ingram had already submitted pictures of his wife's injuries taken after her release from the Erne Hospital in 1998.
She said the law must be changed so that men women and children are not humiliated in this way.
"What they don't see are the emotional scars and the terrible nightmares. It was so bad the other night I had to take a pillow and rest at the front door so that I could get some fresh air. I felt as thought everything was closing in around me," she said.
Every day she recalls the trauma of the Omagh bomb.
Mrs Ingram still has pieces of shrapnel moving around inside her body.
"They break out through the skin on my legs, back and there is even one on my cheek which has been bleeding. The surgeon told me it was like old war wounds. But it is very painful and feels like I'm being jabbed with a needle," she said.
The former traffic warden who says she could have worked until retirement age, has been medically discharged from her job.
"There are quite a few people still waiting for compensation, but I don't know why mine has been dragged out for so long, when many other claims have been settled," she said.
A spokeswoman for the Northern Ireland office said that they were now reviewing the matter.
But she added: "When a scar has to be viewed and clothing has to be removed it is always done with the utmost sensitivity to the victim's wishes. It is in no way invasive."
Further Information
Publisher: NEWS LETTER
Ref: NL/446
Published Date: 26-Aug-02
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