R v Criminal Injuries Compensation Board ex parte Wilson 1991

FACTS:-

The Applicant was born in 1964. As a child she was sexually abused by her step father between 1974 and 1980. She reported the matter to the police in 1988 and the stepfather was convicted. In May 1990 she made an application to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, but her application was refused on the grounds that it had been made more than three years after the incidents pursuant to paragraph 4 of the Scheme, and the Applicant had reached the age of her majority in 1985. The Applicant applied for judicial review of the decision.

HELD:-

Mr Justice Popplewell said that whilst the CICB could be generous in its view as to what was an exceptional case, it did not seem that the fact that the Board was generous in some cases was a good reason for saying that in the instant case it had behaved unreasonably. There was material before the chairman of the Board on which he could come to a decision. The Applicant’s application would be refused.