Former City lawyer Patrick Raggett wins £54,000 damages after suffering years of abuse at Jesuit-run school
Friday 09 November 2012
Related articles
A former City lawyer who claims he made a mess of his life because he was sexually abused at a Jesuit-run school today won £54,923 damages.
Patrick Raggett had asked for an award of up to £5 million on the basis that the abuse caused recognised psychiatric disorders and behaviour which led to the loss of his legal career.
Mrs Justice Swift at London's High Court said he was not entitled to such a large award and awarded him £40,000 for pain and suffering, plus interest and expenses, including the cost of therapy.
She said: "I am well aware that the conclusions I have reached in my judgment will be disappointing to the claimant and that its contents may cause him some distress.
"This is particularly unfortunate and regrettable since there is no doubt that he was the victim of an insidious form of abuse involving a grave breach of trust and that he has suffered significantly as a result. As a result, he is deserving of sympathy.
"Over recent years, he has come to believe that all the adverse events that have occurred in his life are attributable to the abuse and that belief, which I do not doubt is sincerely held, has clearly brought him a great deal of comfort."
Mr Raggett, of Chiswick, west London, was not in court for the ruling.
He was abused between the ages of 11 and 15 by Father Michael Spencer, a teacher at Preston Catholic College in Lancashire, who died in 2000 aged 76.
The abuse was not penetrative and resulted in no physical injury but Mr Raggett, who has waived anonymity, says it left him feeling "violation, dread, isolation, shame and humiliation".
Now 54, and married with a child, he says he did not connect his experiences at school with years of under-achievement at work, a failed marriage and binge drinking until he had therapy after an April 2005 breakdown.
The governors of the college, which closed in 1978, denied liability and said the case was brought too late but Mrs Justice Swift ruled against them in 2009.
Between 1970 and 1974, Spencer, who was Mr Raggett's form teacher and coach of the football team he captained, observed him naked, filmed him, photographed him and touched him inappropriately.
Mr Raggett said this had significant long-term psychological effects on him but lawyers for the governors questioned his credibility and said his problems were caused by environmental and hereditary factors.
Mrs Justice Swift was asked to conduct a review of Mr Raggett's life history, from his early childhood and schooling to student days at Liverpool University where he read English, a short accountancy traineeship and law school in Guildford.
She said that members of his family referred to him appearing taciturn, moody and sometimes distressed during his adolescent years.
"I am satisfied that this behaviour was attributable to the abuse which he was suffering. As a result of the abuse, the claimant had difficulties relating to some of his schoolmates and became somewhat withdrawn from his family.
"I have concluded that the abuse also had an adverse effect on the claimant's attitude to his school work and therefore on his examination results.
"I have found that the effects of the sexual abuse persisted for a period of about eight years from the start of the abuse until the beginning of the claimant's third year at university, by which time he was living in a house with friends and taking a full part in the usual student social and sporting activities.
"In 2005, his realisation of the extent of the abuse resulted in an awakening of memories of certain incidents and, more particularly, of the emotions associated with them.
"Following that episode, the claimant suffered symptoms of distress and low mood, together with repeated ruminations about the abuse. I have concluded that those symptoms persisted until some time after the trial of limitation and liability.
"By the end of 2009, the claimant was showing some improvement and I am glad to say that this has been maintained ever since. He has now remarried and his new family, together with the career as a therapist and counsellor on which he has embarked, have brought him considerable satisfaction and fulfilment."
The judge said that, in concluding that Mr Raggett had certain personality traits which had caused difficulties in his personal, social and employment life, she did not intend to suggest he was to blame for that.
"We all have different personalities and some are more difficult to manage than others. Most of us do not have our actions and behaviour subjected to the type of detailed analysis that I have had to undertake in this case.
"I doubt that it would be a pleasant experience for anyone. However, since the claimant has brought this claim, it has been my duty to conduct that analysis and to set out my conclusions in this judgment."
PA
-
In pictures: Saturn images from Cassini probe as it prepares to turn lens towards Earth
-
Serena Williams apologises after comment that rape victim 'shouldn't have put herself in that position'
-
New banker bonus boom: Payouts leapt 64% to new record when Chancellor George Osborne cut top-rate tax to 45p in April
-
'There's something quite unpleasant going on': Nigel Farage confronted for second time on visit to Scotland ahead of Donside by-election
-
World news in pictures
- 1 Breaking the Silence: In the reality of occupation, there are no Palestinian civilians – only potential terrorists
- 2 Newcastle owner Mike Ashley wants blood after last season's trauma - and it won't stop with managing director Derek Llambias
- 3 Richard Nieuwenhuizen death: Six teenagers and 50-year-old father convicted of manslaughter in shocking case of referee killed over a game of football
- 4 Exclusive: Newcastle United's star talent-spotter Graham Carr on brink as Joe Kinnear sparks walkout at St James' Park
- 5 Vast methane 'plumes' seen in Arctic ocean as sea ice retreats
How will you make today delicious?
Tell us how you plan to make today delicious and you could win a £50 M&S gift card.
Win a Nook® Simple Touch eReader
Find out how Nook® is supporting the Evening Standard's Get Reading campaign - and your chance to win one.
Free reading festival for families
Follow The Standard's campaign to get London's children reading - and experience this unique event at Trafalgar Square on 13 July.
Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.
Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Independent Dating
iJobs General
Commercial Refrigeration Engineers
TBC: Capital Refrigeration Services Ltd: Capital Refrigeration Services requir...
Are you a dynamic Primary teacher looking for work in Bromley?
£5520 - £31200 per annum: Randstad Education London: If you are then please ap...
EYFS/KS1 Teacher Maternity Contract - September Start - Bromley
MPS + OLA: Randstad Education London: Randstad Education are working with a Cl...
Head of English
£42000 - £46000 per annum + depending on experience: Randstad Education London...
Day In a Page
Babies behind bars
Sonic youth: The high-pitched sound alarm
The art of living in small spaces
'Teaching bright children isn't rocket science'
Can technology lure us back to the high street?






