killer gets £44,500 for dental pain!
I can understand that he should have been treated earlier, but the payout to me seems excessive .....
Triple murderer Michael Steele has won £44,500 compensation after being refused dental treatment
A notorious triple murderer has won £44,500 damages after suing the Home Office for negligent dental care while serving a life sentence.
Michael Steele, one of the 'Essex Boys' gangland murderers, claimed that being refused proper treatment for a bad tooth had left him in severe pain for years.
Today a senior judge said she could 'understand and sympathise' with his complaint and agreed that he should receive the payout.
But critics described the damages as 'obscene' and claimed it was further evidence that Britain's compensation culture had got out of control.
Steele, 66, was jailed in January 1998 with Jack Whomes for shooting dead three drug dealers in a Range Rover on a remote farm track in Rettenden, near Chelmsford.
Soon after arriving at Belmarsh Prison in South East London one of his fillings fell out.
He has since suffered 'persistent and severe pain' while being shuffled between high security jails, he claimed.
The category A prisoner, of Great Bentley, Essex, sued the Home Office for damages accusing it of failing to provide proper treatment to alleviate his discomfort.
Representing himself, he argued that the £45,000 was 'fair and appropriate compensation' for his suffering.
Lady Justice Smith agreed that the Home Office breached the duty it owed Steele to make 'reasonable arrangements' for caring for the killer's teeth.
Sitting with Lord Justice Laws and Lord Justice Carnwath in the Court of Appeal, she said: 'He said that the pain had kept him awake at night and had caused him stress during the day.
'He submitted that we should take into account that his pain and suffering was aggravated by the fact that he was locked up for much of the day and had nothing to do other than think about his toothache.
'I can understand and sympathise with that submission and I accept that his situation is a factor which can be taken into account in assessing damages.'
Steele was initially awarded £66,400 damages by High Court Judge Edward Bailey after he ruled last year that the Home Office had been negligent.
Today the Appeal Court judges rejected the Home Office's appeal against the negligence ruling, but nevertheless reduced Steele's payout to £44,500.
The damages award will be dwarfed by the public cost of the case, which is likely to run well into six figures.
Tory MP Philip Davies said: 'This beggars belief. It just shows what a ridiculous situation this country has got into when multiple murderers are getting massive compensation payouts when their teeth hurt.
Source: Daily Mail
Sadly, you are right.:(
I agree with you, but I doubt it will ever happen. We are now coming more and more under EU control as far as legal issues are concerned.
Capital punishment should be brought back. To me , it is definitely a deterrent.
Hmm, law is law, it has to stand for a murderer as much as for a saint.
BUT, maybe it is time to adjust certain laws, times and people have changed, law has not.
In this case the money should go to a charitable organization, IMHO.
he is a murderer. In my opinion the taxpayer's money should not be wasted on him.
British law gone mad...
I believe he was intentionally refused dental treatment because he was a murderer.
He does deserve compensation, but as others have mentioned the amount is a big too high.
I have no sympathy for the murdered 3, as they are scum to the society (drug dealers)
I agree with your sentiments. However, I was more concerned with the size of the award, rather than the award itself.
He sumitted that "we should take into account that his pain and suffering was aggravated by the fact that he was locked up for much of the day and had nothing to do other than think about his toothache."
Surely he was locked up because he was convicted of triple murders..
civilization has progressed over the years led by philosophical and religious thinking and continues to develop. Basically a civilised society operates by rules where cause and effect are related. In this case it appears that a person was subjected to punishment beyond that allowed by law and has received compensation. It is wonderful that law, a very fragile thing, can triumph in the UK in cases where people elsewhere in the world would expect no compensation to be paid. It may take year, 18 years for the Birmingham 6, nearly 40 for the Bloody Sunday victims, but British justice shows the world how a civilised society should behave.