Foster carer injured by adult masquerading as child cannot claim damages, court rules

A foster carer who was nearly killed by an adult masquerading as a 15-year-old asylum seeker cannot claim damages from the council which commissioned the placement, the High Court has ruled.

Christine Mackay, who is employed by Archway fostering agency, took Aziz into her home in July 2011, said Mr Justice Spencer in London.

Milton Keynes Council believed Aziz to be a 15-year-old unaccompanied asylum seeker from Palestine, who had illegally entered the UK in a lorry from Spain.

In October 2011 Aziz absconded, and later that month returned to Mrs Mackay’s home and subjected her to a brutal assault with a kitchen knife.

Mrs Mackay, who is now in her early 60s, suffered lacerated hands, sensory loss and nerve damage.

Aziz, who was later identified as an adult Spanish national called David Garcia Maria, and not a child at all, was convicted in April 2012 of her attempted murder.

Mrs Mackay claimed that the council failed to disclose important information about Aziz before his placement with her which – had she known it – would have led her to refuse to accept him.

She said that it owed her a duty of care to provide this information, but the authority disputed the existence of such a duty as a matter of law.

It also disputed that it owed Mrs Mackay a continuing duty of care, before and during the placement, to carry out a risk assessment.

At Oxford County Court in March, a judge struck out Mrs Mackay’s claim for damages and, on Thursday, Mr Justice Spencer refused permission to appeal against her decision.

He said there was no basis upon which it could be said that the judge’s conclusions were wrong and that she dealt with all the issues correctly and fairly.

“It was plainly a matter of regret to the judge that she was constrained to strike out the claim.

“She expressed her sympathy for the claimant, who had suffered at the hands of someone who appeared to be a child in need of safeguarding, and whom she was seeking to care for and protect for the public good.

“I share the judge’s regret. Nevertheless, for all the reasons I have given, I am quite satisfied that this appeal has, and had, no real prospect of success.”

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