Carl Murphy, 18, was recently awarded a L567,000 payout
(about $1.1 million) in a liability suit for injuries suffered nine
years ago when he fell through the roof of a warehouse in Bootle,
England, near Liverpool.
Some local newspapers reported only that Murphy “had been
trespassing on the property” while others added that he “fell
through a skylight while attempting to break into the warehouse.”
The latter reporting might well add to Murphy’s jackpot by way of a
libel suit for defamation of character, since it’s likely to be
difficult to prove that Murphy was trying to pull off a break-in
rather than just attempting to take the shortest route between two
points, i.e., a course of up the wall of the building, across the
roof, and then down the other wall.
A fence surrounded the warehouse, but Murphy’s lawyers
successfully argued that the fence wasn’t in full repair, thereby
permitting a too-easy entry to the property.
As a result of the fall, Murphy, who has prior convictions for
burglary, robbery and assault, has 17 steel plates in his head, is
partially blind in one eye, and claims to suffer from behavioral
problems that have produced expulsions from two schools.
Boasting about his new-found wealth in his first public
interview after the award, Murphy said he was going to buy “a few
houses and a flash car” and was unconcerned about the negative
response from the public.
“I deserve this money and I don’t care what anyone says about
me,” Murphy stated. “I’m going to buy a big house so I have a place
to live with me mum when she gets out of jail.” Mum is behind bars
for three years for selling crack and heroin.
Continued Murphy: “I might buy a few houses. I’ll buy whatever I
want. The papers call me a yob and a thug because I’ve been done
for robbery and assault but those were just silly stupid little
things, like.”
The payout to Murphy, reports Peter Zimonjic in London’s
Daily Telegraph, has been criticized by those who point
out that crime victims receive far less under the government’s
criminal injuries compensation system, “The parents of James Bulger
received just L7,500 following his murder,” Zimonjic
explains, “and the family of Damilola Taylor received
L10,000 following his murder,” i.e., for murder, these
families received less than 2 percent of what Murphy was
awarded.
Zimonjic reports that residents of Bootle, where Murphy lives,
are fearful of speaking publicly about the case but that privately
they describe him as the “king yob” in the area. “He shaves his
head so we can all see the scars,” said one. “He likes to walk
around and play the big man. I’ve seen him yelling abuse at the
shopkeepers, telling them how he is going to buy the shop with his
compensation money and throw them out. He is a villain around here.
Everybody knows him but no one wants to confront him. He has a big
family and they all stand up for each other.”
Murphy’s response: “I want to spend my money the way I want
without people interfering and I want to have a prosperous future.
I want to take my mates to Liverpool games and get a flash car. The
money is mine now and I’ll do what I want. I don’t care what they
have to say about it. It annoys me that people think I don’t
deserve this money after all I’ve been through. I’m going to spend
my money on whatever I want and everyone who called me ‘Tin Head’
can go get stuffed.”
In other victim news, John Leo reports in U.S. News &
World Report that the Toronto District School Board has
declared Halloween witch costumes to be a violation of “equitable
school policies.” Children of witches might suffer “traumatic
shock,” said the board, if children of non-witches treat “the
Christian sexist demonization of pagan religious beliefs as
‘fun.’”
Along the same lines, sensitive British offices are ridding
their offices of piggy banks, lest British Muslims find offense.
“Novelty pig calendars, toys, and even a tissue boxes featuring
Winnie the Pooh and Piglet,” reports Leo, “have been banned in the
benefits department at Dudley Council, West Midlands, out of
deference to Muslim sensibilities.”
Still, my two favorites remain (a) the church lady straight out
of small-town America who swore she was transformed into a
nymphomaniac, a 50-times-per-week sex machine, after being joggled
around during a San Francisco cable car accident and (b) the
27-year-old Michigan guy, previously happily married, who swore he
turned gay after being rear-ended by a pick-up truck.
As it turned out, the woman in the cable car was awarded $50,000
by a California Superior Court jury, the man who switched gears got
$200,000, and, just to make things more whole all around, the
switched guy’s ex-wife was awarded $25,000.
