The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority award just £18,000 to brutal knife attack victim

UK Personal Injury Solicitors was disappointed to hear about Jessica Knight, the young girl who was awarded just £18,000 from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) after a horrific knife attack last year.

The CICA is a government agency which pays compensation to innocent victims of criminal assault in England, Scotland or Wales. Depending on the circumstances of the criminal assault attack, the CICA can award anything from £1,000 to £250,000 to an individual for their injuries.

For this reason there has been uproar in the media, initiated quite rightly by Jessica Knight’s mother Jill Walmsley.

Jessica, who was just 14 at the time of the incident, was brutally attacked by Frenchman Kristofer Beddar whilst walking in her local park. She was stabbed up to 25 times in the neck, face, back and shoulders. As a result she suffered perforated upper and lower bowels, a collapsed lung, and a stroke caused by a heavy blood clot.

Jill Walmsley has been heavily critical of the compensation review conducted by the CICA, branding her daughters eventual award “a joke”.

She added: “If she had suffered the same injuries in a car accident then we would have been talking hundreds of thousands of pounds, but is it right that all she has been through is worth £18,000?”

There’s no doubt that the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority is a great organisation that offers compensation to those who may not have believed they would get any after an unprovoked criminal assault attack. Without it innocent victims may not have any way of paying for time off work, medical treatment, and other things that they suddenly need in the aftermath of suffering life-changing personal injuries.

However, this case is another example of how important it is to secure the services of an experienced legal professional if you want to get the maximum personal injury compensation available for your injuries. UK Personal Injury Solicitors know this side of the law inside out, and know exactly how much you are entitled to. They will fight all the way to get you the compensation you deserve.

The attack on Jessica Knight is likely to be with her for the rest of her life, and is likely to cause a string of physical and psychological problems for such a young girl. At 16 she should be living life to the full, but instead is going to have to live with the trauma of her attack, and has not even been awarded enough compensation to help her make the most of rebuilding her life.

Now, Jessica Knight along with her mother will be appealing the £18,000 compensation award. Let’s hope that the CICA look at her case again and give her the money she deserves.