Council loses plea over court ruling

From the archive, first published Saturday 31st Jul 2004.

Oxfordshire County Council has lost its Appeal Court battle against a decision to award £250,000 to a teacher assaulted by an unruly pupil.

In February this year, Sharon Millward was handed the compensation at London's High Court.

The 51-year-old, from Newcombe Drive, Little Hulton, Worsley, Manchester, had sued the county council, which runs the Thornbury House Secure Unit in Kidlington, where the teenage boy attacked her in 2000.

Mr Justice Buckley ruled the council was 75 per cent responsible for what had happened -- but yesterday barrister John Norman argued he should have dismissed the case.

Mr Norman, representing the council, said Mr Justice Buckley had wrongly rejected expert evidence given on behalf of the local authority.

Lord Justice Jonathan Parker, sitting with Mr Justice Newman, said there was no arguable case that Mr Justice Buckley had made an error of law.

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