Oliver Doyle, a teacher who suffered PTSD after he was attacked at a children’s home, has lost his claim for compensation
A teacher at a secure children’s home who was battered by youths with hockey sticks as he tried to protect another boy has lost his claim for £900,000 in compensation.
Oliver Doyle was working at Leverton Hall in Brentwood, Essex in 2007 when three boys set upon another with hockey sticks in the centre’s gym.
Mr Doyle stepped in to try to protect the victim but was himself attacked, with the young assailants even using a bench as a battering ram.
The teacher, now 42, returned to work after the incident but was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder in 2013 and left the job in 2015.
He sued Essex County Council, who ran the centre, for £900,000, saying a radio on which he could have called for help didn’t work and he wasn’t given counselling after the terrible incident.
But a judge at Central London County Court has now thrown out the damages claim, finding that it came too long after.
Another case is being brought however over the impact on Mr Doyle of being sent to work in a secure unit in 2015, despite what happened previously and his mental health.
Ruling after the trial, Judge Roberts said the assault on Mr Doyle, of Ilford, in April 2007 had been ‘savage and sustained’.
‘They were punched, kicked and beaten with hockey sticks and a bench was used as a battering ram against them,’ he said.
‘He found it very difficult to breathe and despite trying to shout for help, he was unable to utter a single word. He feared for the victim’s life and his own life.’
Leverton Hall near Brentwood, Essex has since closed down. It suffered continued problems after the savage attack in 2007
Other staff eventually intervened, but the trouble which had sparked at Leverton – a now closed home for children with social, behavioural and other problems – continued afterwards.
‘It was placed on lockdown and for several weeks the youths broke hatches, smashed furniture, tore up carpets, threw urine at staff and smeared faeces on walls,’ said the judge.
Mr Doyle continued working there for about a month afterwards, before requesting a transfer to the open part of the Leverton home.
However, his mental health was affected again four years later when he was transferred back to the secure unit, the court heard.
He suffered flashbacks, triggered by the sound of doors clicking shut and the sight of the unit’s corridors.
‘I was returned back to an environment I didn’t feel safe in,’ said the teacher.
‘I didn’t feel safe with the management there, I didn’t feel safe with the communications system. It was traumatic being returned back to somewhere where I had been assaulted.’
Mr Doyle claimed that the first time he realised he had PTSD – and so a valid claim to damages – was when he was formally diagnosed in 2013.
He said it was only after receiving counselling that he was able to understand that his mental troubles could be traced back to the assault in 2007.
Essex County Council, whose offices are pictured, face a second compensation claim for sending Mr Doyle back into the secure section of the children’s home in 2014
However, lawyers for the council argued that his case should be dismissed because he had waited too long before lodging it.
They disputed his claim to have only learned of his injury in 2013, claiming that he had known as far back as the days after the assault that he was suffering.
That meant his claim had been lodged outside of the three-year legal time limit for starting personal injury court cases.
Giving judgment, Judge Roberts said he was convinced that Mr Doyle was suffering from symptoms of a significant psychiatric injury as early as 2011.
‘I find that…he knew in 2011 that he was suffering from significant psychological injuries – namely anxiety, depression and symptoms of PTSD – which were attributable in whole or in part to the council’s alleged breaches of duty of care in relation to the assault,’ he said.
‘I find that a reasonable person with Mr Doyle’s knowledge would have considered the injuries sufficiently serious to justify instituting proceedings for damages.’
Because he had not lodged his claim until 2016, Mr Doyle’s case against the council was out of time, the judge ruled.
The court heard Mr Doyle still has one live damages claim against the council.
It relates to his employer sending him to work in another secure unit in 2015, just before he left his job for good.