Gray v Thames Trains and others [2009] UKHL 33, [2009] All ER (D) 162 (Jun)
House of Lords, Lord Phillips, Lord Hoffmann, Lord Scott,
Lord Rodger and Lord Brown, 17 June 2009
The House of Lords has applied the wider version of the maxim ex turpi causa in holding that one cannot recover compensation for loss which one has suffered in consequence of one’s own criminal act.
Anthony Scrivener QC and Toby Riley-Smith (instructed by Collins) for the claimant. Christopher Purchas QC and Steven Snowden (instructed by Halliwells LLP) for the defendants.
The claimant was a victim of the Ladbroke Grove rail crash of October 1999. He sustained minor physical injuries but developed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which led to depression and to a significant change in his personality. On 19 August 2001, he fatally stabbed a stranger. The claimant surrendered to the police the following day.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility. The judge ordered the claimant to be detained in hospital. The claimant commenced proceedings against the first defendant, as the operator of
