Richard Borrett

Recent and historic sexual abuse claims against a perpetrator or their employer, failure to remove claims involving local authority children's services, failure to safeguard, and Human Rights Act claims by vulnerable adults, children in care, etc.

Richard is regularly instructed to act for children and vulnerable adults via the official solicitor, in claims against local authorities, including ‘failure to remove’ and HRA claims.

Many of the cases Richard is instructed in are Failure to Remove claims, and he has delivered a seminar to the Official Solicitor on the effect of GN v Poole in such cases.

Significant/recent cases

• Breach of Art.8 by local authority in failing to facilitate contact between C and his wife
• Various art.5 breach claims for failures to authorise deprivation of liberty, or failure to bring s.21A proceedings;
• 6 and 8 claims arising from misuse of s.20 accommodation
• Historic sexual abuse by serving police officer (led by Satinder Hunjan QC)
• Vicarious liability claim from violent assault by door staff at a casino
• Death of care-home resident who suffered from Korsakoff's dementia and lacked the capacity to make decisions about care and treatment. He was permitted to decline all personal care, and over many weeks developed a skin infection which developed into sepsis—acting for family/estate in a claim in tort / for breach of Art. 2 and Art.3.
• Advising on aggravated and exemplary damages for Claimants unlawfully imprisoned and tortured during the Cyprus Emergency
• Historic sexual abuse by a football coach.
• Grooming and sexual abuse by Catholic Priest
• HRA claim for breach of Article 2 Protocol 1 right to education.
• Alleged failure to adequately safeguard vulnerable adult in supported living who tended to bang her head and died when she suffered a TBI in her room.
• Breach of Data Protection Act by local authority in disclosing sensitive personal information about domestic violence.

Richard acts for families and other interested parties, primarily state bodies, in all kinds of inquests. He has extensive expertise in the application of Article 2 in both medical and non-medical spheres.

Richard is ranked in Band 2 of Legal 500 for inquests in 2022:

“Richard always gets up to speed very quickly on cases with significant documentation. He has an excellent manner with clients, particularly those finding the inquest process stressful. He provides practical and thoroughly thought through advice. ’”

Particular areas of expertise

• Self-inflicted deaths
• Psychiatric treatment, particularly decisions as to discharge/s.117/ground leave
• Medical/hospital deaths
• Military deaths (in the UK and abroad)
• 'Safeguarding' / Mental Capacity Act issues
• Social care / multi-agency inquests

Richard is ranked Band 2 for inquests (northern circuit) in the Legal 500 2021.

Social Care

Richard has particular experience in inquests involving social care/safeguarding/local authorities, examples include:

• 4-week Jury inquest into the death of TR, an autistic care-home resident, following a series of chest infections (for Local Authority)
• Death of DOLS resident who suffered from Korsakoff's dementia who was permitted to decline all personal care, and over a period of many weeks developed a skin infection which developed into sepsis. Counsel to the Inquest instructed; Jury inquest; 15 interested parties. Various issues as to capacity/use of the MCA. (For Family.)
• Unexplained death of man with learning difficulties, who had been locked in his flat by his nephew, where there had been safeguarding referrals to the local authority in the weeks prior to death. (For local authority)
• Article 2, Jury inquest into domestic homicide by a schizophrenic perpetrator, where the family of the victim had sought help from the LA via the duty social worker in the weeks prior to death (https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/paranoid-schizophrenic-discharged-mental-health-17319377). (For Local Authority)
• Death of supported living resident from head injuries potentially caused by headbanging, raising issues of supervision and/or whether padding/helmet should have been provided. (For LA.)
• Death of looked after child who was accommodated in a nursing home, raising issues of suitability of the placement. (For LA.)

Significant Cases

• Inquest touching the death of Alison Doyle, a cyclist killed when she hit a pothole and lost control of her bicycle: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7500323/Council-received-FOUR-complaints-massive-15-inch-pothole-cyclist-47-killed.html
• Inquest into the Castlemartin tank incident (led by Michael Rawlinson QC). See media coverage here (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/02/corporals-died-in-tank-blast-after-officer-given-guest-experience-walesinquest-hears) and here (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-44682846)
• Suicide of community patient where CAMHS had not communicated to her mother that the deceased would not be visited and so she was left alone and took her life
• Inquest into death of Jamie-Lee Sawyer on a kayaking exercise in Cyprus, when local weather warnings were not heeded (https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/jamie-lee-sawyer-inquest-kayaker-13181794)
• Acting for hospital in 2-week Jury inquest into death of a detained psychiatric patient who absconded whilst on ground leave.
• Suicide by serving soldier who complained of bullying and mistreatment by chain of command.
• Jury inquest into RTA death where pedestrian was walking in inside lane of motorway at night, having recently been stopped by the police.
• Suicide of community psychiatric patient who had been referred to the emergency duty team shortly before his death, but had been 'triaged' by unqualified staff, raising issues of whether there was a 'real and immediate' risk to his life
• High profile inquest into death of Afghanistan veteran on exercise. The vehicle in which he was travelling overturned, and he was ejected: (https://www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk/news/12927969.soldiers-death-at-cumbria-training-base-was-accidental-inquesttold/)
• Neonatal death reported as a 'stillbirth', but which the coroner found was not.
• Death of a spectator at a mountain-biking event, caused when a competitor left the course and collided with her.