Why Does Anyone Other Than The Criminal Owe You Compensation?

It was September last year when 24-year-old Kelly was on a Qatar Airways flight from Doha to London Gatwick after a trip to Africa. Tucked underneath a blanket and with her headphones firmly on, she quickly fell asleep after a strenuous day of travel. The quiet murmuring of voices from the film playing on her screen helped her to drift off on a packed overnight flight. But two hours before landing, Kelly - whose name has been changed for this article - was woken by the man sitting next to her, sexually assaulting her.

The man in his 60s has now been jailed but Kelly is finding it difficult to go on with her day-to-day life and is locked in a battle for compensation.

No, Reader, Not from the perpetrator. And not from the airline, either.

Kelly was initially moved to a cabin crew seat before being moved elsewhere in the cabin until landing. "I had to endure the rest of the plane journey, which was awful," Kelly remembers.

It’s an airplane, love, it’s not like the pilot can just pull over and let you out, is it? 

Although Kelly is pleased he has been convicted, she said the impact of the assault on her has been severe. "I haven't been out in almost a year - to events or summer parties with my friends. I can't do that. I'm too scared. I don't want to be touched or looked at. So it's never leaving me. It's literally there every single day before I sleep, I'm thinking about what happened."

And someone needs to pay for that. A normal person would say it should be the pervert who assaulted her, wouldn’t they? 

Kelly is now fighting for compensation under the government's Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (CICS).

Ah. My mistake. Of course, it’s the poor long-suffering British taxpayer, isn’t it? Because there’s no way all the (doubtless unpaid) fines levied under the justice system are even covering the administration costs of the scheme, is there? 

But when Kelly applied to the scheme for compensation in April her application was refused. A letter from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) - which processes applications on behalf of the Ministry of Justice - said the offence did not occur in a "relevant place" as defined by the scheme. She appealed against the decision but in May was refused again.

The British civil service never met a loophole they didn’t love: 

The current rules of the scheme state an aircraft is only considered a "relevant place" if it is a British-registered aircraft within the meaning of section 92 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982. Kelly was told as the offence occurred on a Qatari-registered aircraft, she was ineligible for compensation. She believes this is unfair.

Well, I believe that it’s unfair that you should claim compensation for your ordeal from anyone but the man who put you through it.